Ottobre 06/2008-17: the Rosy Red coat

Myra loves wearing her fleece hoodie, but winter weather in Utah requires more serious warm gear.

It was time for a coat. A real, warm, cozy wool coat. With a hood. THE CUTEST HOOD EVER. Myra calls it her unicorn horn, but I think she looks like a little elf.

It's cute with the hood down too, but Myra always wears it up.

The pattern I used is Ottobre 06/2008-17, the Rosy Red coat. It has a generous cut, with the shoulders and chest shaped with yokes.

Here is the front yoke seam, as well as the bling-tastic buttons Myra chose. You can't really see it in the picture, but they have iridescent glitter embedded in them. Very Myra.

The back yoke curves across the shoulder and provides shaping there. The sleeves are one piece, but eased at the elbow for shape. Very nice drafting.

The length of the coat is really great. Long enough to be very warm, but short enough and with enough ease to allow for play.

The fabric I used is a wool/poly blend coating from Fabric.com. I'm not sure how long I've had it, probably about a year. The colors are a little unusual, with a neon yellow and pink plied yarn woven with a graphite grey in a houndstooth pattern.

Myra chose this neon pink satin as her lining fabric. It's a perfect match to the pink element in the wool. I used an all machine method of lining this coat that I learned testing a pattern that is soon to be released. I'll tell you more about that when I can, but suffice it to say, the method is awesome.

The pattern called for a layer of batting for warmth, but my wool is plenty thick, so instead I underlined the shell with cotton flannel. I used up some scraps from Myra's nightgowns. Since it is hidden under the lining no one sees it.

The only hand stitching I did on this entire coat was to catch stitch the pocket bags to the underlining. I didn't want them flopping around in there.

The pockets are nicely recessed, and since I underlined them with flannel as well, very cozy. You can see just a flash of pink here as Myra jumps.

Myra loves her new coat, and I'm pretty thrilled with it, too. I was looking back today at some of my early projects and it kinda hit me how far I've come. I made a COAT! And it didn't even scare me!

Can you believe how grown up she's getting?? It wasn't so long ago that she looked like this. We've come so far, the both of us.