Planning and Design

I used to have quite a few coats that I made using Simplicity’s Project Runway 2508 pattern. I haven’t worn a coat in a long time but I do think they are quite nice. I’ve especially been thinking that as I’ve been seeing a lot of people in the office wearing coats. Although I did also notice they all seemed to be roughly the same (light brown) colour 😶

So when Splatoon 3 released the Barazushi Peacoat it got me thinking how blue is also a very classic peacoat colour, in fact my husband has one that is very similar to the in-game one, which means I would never make one in this colour because we would be matching, and I REFUSE to match outfits. But then! I remembered! Back in my previous job, when I was under a lot of stress, I did some retail therapy and bought some cute wool fabric from Homecraft Textiles, based solely on the photo on the website. So when I received it and realised it was a fairly thick and scratchy wool blend, I was at a bit of a loss on what to use it for. But given it’s a blue/grey fabric, I could make a peacoat that’s ‘inspired’ by the Splatoon one 😁 My mental gymnastics is good 👍

Since the outer fabric was quite scratchy, I decided to go super fancy on the lining and bought a bunch of samples from Remnant Warehouse. There was a clear winner from the selection I chose.

I struggled a bit with finding the buttons because I wanted the two sizes to be of the same design which limited options quite a lot. I ended up choosing ones I like even though I probably should have gone for something plainer because the fabric pattern itself is quite busy. But I like looking at the buttons so all good.

I thought I would have plenty of light weight interfacing from my big bulk stash from a previous Spotlight order but I was wrong and didn’t have enough for the front panels. So I ordered exactly the same item as previously and got something of a different weight…I wasn’t sure if that’s because they messed up or because the product itself changed, but I know from past experience that dealing with Spotlight customer service is an ordeal so I just used it anyway and decided to buy all the different interfacing weights from Homecraft Textiles to make my own interfacing sample card. Because at least Homecraft Textiles customer service is (at the time of this blog entry) good.

There are quite a few reviews for this particular pattern on the Style Arc website and from these I decided to size up because I wanted to be able to wear it over a decent weight sweater/cardigan/etc.

Materials

• Pattern:
  • Beatric Peacoat (Style Arc)
• Fabric:
  • Wool Blend Yarn Dyed Design 56 (Homecraft Textiles)
  • French Navy Viscose Blend Twill Lining (Remnant Warehouse)
• Buttons:
  • Hemline Fashion Stitch Edge Button Silver 21 & 15 mm

Construction

I have many things to say about the instructions for this pattern hahahahaha. Can’t say I wasn’t pre-warned by the reviews. But I consider myself an experienced sewer so surely I could figure it out? I haven’t struggled with any of Style Arc’s other patterns this far…

Well let’s just say I think I learnt the difference between ‘instructions’ and ‘tutorial’. I guess I’m so used to using the Burda/McCalls/Simplicity style paper patterns that spell out each step with a visual that I thought those were instructions. No, ‘instructions’ are Style Arc telling you to “align edges and sew” for attaching the lining to the main fabric at the vent…WHICH IS DEFINITELY THE HARDEST PART OF THE ENTIRE DAMN PATTERN. I realised with this pattern that Style Arc is fine if you already know all the techniques involved (i.e. me up until now). Not if you want to learn a new technique. Which is also pretty funny because one of their recent ads suggested ‘challenging yourself to learn a new skill’. Sure, but maybe not with a Style Arc pattern 🙃

Because I had read so much about how hard the pattern was, I had their tutorial blog post up and ready to refer to, but to be honest, the default instructions were actually easier to follow. Although I did make some adjustments to make it easier. I had to reread it so many times thinking that the visuals were in order of the steps but oh boy are they not. Here is what the order actually just in case anyone reading this is attempting this pattern and getting over- (or is it under-?) whelmed by the instructions.

I’m probably overexaggerating a bit since I’m writing this all after the fact, with my impressions very much skewed by my battle to get the vent done. I was excited to learn how to do a real vent. That deflated real fast when I reviewed the instructions. I ended up looking up instructions elsewhere. To be honest these two lines of ‘Place outside vent wrong side up. Place lining vent wrong side down.’ from this tutorial helped so much, once I did this it kind of ‘clicked’ to me what I was meant to do. Although I’m not sure how correct I got the jump hem. It looks and sits fine though and I secured the opening with hand stitching so it’s probably fine.

To Style Arc’s credit, the pattern itself is very well made, I always knew I was on the right track when I aligned pieces and the notches/edges all matched up perfectly.

Also shout out to Elsatelier Makes who did a youtube video on her process. To be honest it mostly helped for the sleeves because nowhere in the instructions or pattern does it say to gather the sleeve cap. I thought that it would be the case, but I ended up second guessing myself when I couldn’t find any reference to this step anywhere 😣

Reflections

I’m happy with the finished product 😊 The trials and tribulations were worth it LOL. Going up a size was the right move, it fits comfortably over a shirt plus light sweater. The lining also feels luxurious and I don’t regret forking out for this particular fabric. Besides, it is true I learnt a lot of things with this project. And I am mentally forewarned about future Style Arc patterns… 

Things I learnt:

• Don’t use paper patterns held together by washi tape. I was lazy to trace all the many many pieces of this pattern, but it would have made it much easier to store the cut-but-unsewn pieces while I was waiting for components (the interfacing…) to arrive
• Factor in a whole day to cut the fabric alone, honestly…SOOOO many pieces
• Don’t try to learn new techniques from Style Arc patterns
• I realised I don’t like anything heavier than very light interfacing
• Also I learnt about block interfacing fabric and yeah, probably should have done that.
• I learnt what jigger buttons are!
• How to make your own button shank.
• How to make your own buttonholes when your fabric is too thick for the buttonhole foot.
• Kinda sorta how to make a jacket vent (need to look up a proper tutorial for this next time)
• I used to not care about nap/matching fabric patterns but now I do 😅

Would I make this again? Honestly I would probably find a pattern from a company that specialises in detailed explanations and instructional diagrams. I do want to learn how to do vents properly and nicely. Besides I’m not super fond of the sleeves so would go for something simpler.

Categories: Sewing

Tagged as: Style Arc

hikaru