Thursday, February 28, 2013

I'm laughing at clouds

I took these photos before I went on holiday which is why my hair is way shorter. 


I can't remember which sewing blog it was that I first saw a raincoat made of laminated cotton on, but I immediately went searching to see if I could find some similar fabric. I bought this Michael Miller laminated cotton off Etsy and then it sat in my sewing stash for about a year. I didn't sew it up because I was scared of ruining it. Usually when I sew I use my unpicker quite a bit. With laminated fabric you can't really unpick your sewing if you do something wrong because the needle leaves holes in the fabric. You can't use pins or iron it either. My trip to England finally spurred me on to make a raincoat because I didn't have one to take with me.          


The only coat pattern I had on hand was Simplicity 8452 which I had picked up at an op shop for 20c.  I didn't really love it but couldn't find anything better in the limited time I had.   




Luckily, it doesn't look that much like the pattern envelope. It's longer (although that could just be because I'm short) and more a-line than the picture. I really like the pleat at the back. 


Don't look to closely at the topstitching, it's a bit wonky

The construction wasn't actually as hard as I thought it would be. The worst part was the topstitching. I hate topstitching at the best of times but it's a million times worse when you know you can't unpick it if you screw up. I used bulldog clips for holding the pieces together instead of pins. My Mum has a sewing machine foot she uses for making things out of oilcloth so I used that because a normal foot would stick to the fabric.



I used snaps instead of buttons because I thought that doing buttonholes in the fabric would be difficult. The snaps were the most fun part because I got to use my hammer to bang them in. 




I didn't end up taking the raincoat to England because it's quite heavy and if you get the laminated fabric creased it stays like that. I did wear it a couple of times before I went though and I'm sure I'll get lots more wear out of it when summer's over and we start getting rain again.  

26 comments:

  1. YOu are so clever! YOu'll be like a ray of sunshine on a gloomy rainy day! People will stop and ask you where you bought it from I bet! x

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    1. Thanks! I'm hoping for some rain soon so I can actually wear it some more.

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  2. Wow! It's absolutely stunning, the shape, the colours, the print! You are clever! x

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    1. Thanks! The print is great, isn't it? I thought it would be perfect for a 60s style raincoat.

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  3. It's a gorgeous Mac, I'm sure you'll wear it loads. It looks perfect!

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    1. Thanks! Hopefully it'll rain loads so I can wear it.

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  4. I love this- the idea of a foul weather coat in the sunniest fabric is a hit to me!

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    1. Thanks! There's no point in wearing dull colours just because the weather's gloomy.

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  5. Oh my goodness, you made a RAINCOAT! That's amazing! It looks wonderful, what great fabric and colours and big splashy flowers. I am seriously impressed! xxx

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    1. I know! I kind of can't believe I made one either. Thanks!

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  6. How beautiful! It never occurred to me to make my own rain mac when I couldn't find one I liked.

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    1. Thanks! It didn't occur to me either until I saw someone's Amy Butler raincoat that they had made on their blog.

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  7. Far out, that is one cute coat. Well done. I would be way to scared to sew on laminated fabric - overuse of the ripper thing. On a grey day this coat really shines.

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    1. Thanks! It is a bit scary. It was kind of hard getting used to not being able to unpick mistakes but I just went really slowly and it worked out okay.

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  8. It looks a true master piece to me, dear friend, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh
    You are beyond amazing.
    have a fantastic weekend.
    XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

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  9. This is the cutest raincoat EVER. Note to self: research printed laminated cotton.

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    1. Thanks! There is quite a bit of laminated cotton out there. Lots of the companies like Michael Miller (which is what mine is) and Amy Butler have released some of their prints in laminated cotton.

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  10. Thanks! Although you might not be saying that if you got a close look at some of the seams.

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  11. Ooo, this is a tasty raincoat!
    No, there weren't any white gumboots. No white gumboots, no dogs.What ever happened to traditions?! XXX

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  12. You would be looking forward to the rain just so you could wear such a lovely raincoat.

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  13. I love love LOVE this!! I want to make myself a raincoat too - although we need some rain first xoxo

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  14. That is wonderful and happy :)) I could do with a rain jacket really, but I never find any that I like! You are brilliant at creating things...you look gorgeous!! xx

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