Waist length jacket from two recycled coats

Alright, alright. One last project, and then I'll have to return to my studies full-time. This procrastination has been fun while it lasted, but unfortunately responsibilities call...

So, I was cleaning my fabric/refashion stashes and I found two winter coats that I'd stashed away for further use.

One was gray and I got it for free from a recycling center. It had some holes in it and the fake fur collar was not my style, but I liked the gray wool fabric. The black one is one of my husband's old coats he wanted to throw away - the lining was all torn and one of the front pockets had a tear down one side as well. Also there was a stain on the shoulder that didn't come off even though I washed the coat (it said dry-cleaning only, but I figured if it didn't survive the wash I could just toss it, but it did - with the stain still on).

So neither of these coats was wearable as-is. So I decided to combine them into a waist-length jacket.

I made a raglan sleeve jacket pattern and cut out the pieces. The sleeves were cut out of the black coat and had to be cut in several pieces due to fabric restrictions. The rest of the pieces I got from the gray coat, and I don't think there was a single scrap piece bigger than 5 by 5 centimeters (2 by 2 inches) left by the time I was done. :D If there ever was a game of Tetris played with pattern pieces on fabric, this was it.

As a lining, I used a slippery red fabric with embroidered flower designs on it. The lining fabric was bought secondhand quite some time ago, and I hadn't figured out any use for it, but it was perfect for this project. The gray coat that I'd disassembled also had a layer of wool lining between the actual lining fabric and the outer shell of the coat, so I used that for the front and back pieces to make the jacket warmer.

I made welt pockets in the front pieces, because I could not make a jacket without pockets.

Lining done:

Lining attached to the outer shell:

I sewed the waistband on right sides together on the outside, then folded it on the inside and hand-stitched the waistband to the inside of the jacket.

I attached the sleeve cuffs (gathered by hand, cuffs inserted, and the lining sewn on the inside of the cuff by hand). Then I painstakingly sewed five buttonholes by hand and added five buttons on the other side.

And done:

And here's how it looks worn:

***

So, now I'll have to tone down the sewing for a bit, because I really need to continue working on my Master's thesis. Be sure to follow me on instagram if you don't already, because I post there more frequently and there are pictures of projects that never make it to the blog. You can find me here:
@somescoundrel

Anyway, what do you think of the jacket? :)

love,
Satu / Sew Scoundrel