AUTUMN IS HERE

Here we are in Autumn and Winter on the way...with plenty of recent rain showers I thought it was an ideal time to explore a new fabric with a view to make myself a new coat. Although Soft Shell fabric has been around for a long time, its now freely available in a great range of different patterns...I have to admit that when the fabric arrived I was super excited to use it, hopefully you'll find the same if you use it in a project.

I bought this pattern from Ebay, and although it was £12.00 per metre (I needed 2½ metres) I hope you'll agree it would make a wonderful raincoat. Soft shell fabric has a shower proof outer shell and a fleece lined inner shell. Although the material makes for a thicker sew, it doesn't fray and so no hemming required.

I made this coat using an independent pattern from Grainline Studio and made some adaptations to it if my own...I put a zip to the centre (blue to match in with the fabric), a channel around the hood & around the bottom of the coat to allow for elastic to be fed through with yellow toggles and yellow snap-fastenings to go across the centre zip. I picked blue and yellow colours to match in with parts of the fabric.

I made a toile first to check the fit and then began to piece the coat together. Regards to the snap fastenings...they come in a kit and are really easy to use. They come in a range of colours and are available from all good local haberdashery shops.

This coat has already had many an outing now...I love it...if you give the soft shell fabric a go, I'd love to see what you make :)

Before i sign off...meet the Learn It Stitch It newbie...

This is Stitch...he's the new Learn It Stitch It dog...not sure how he's going to feel about me making him a matching coat! :)

So now the nights are drawing in, get those winter makes started and start thinking about Christmas gifts too! :)

Take Care

Naomi x