My new outfit for rainy days
I’m super happy to tell you more about my new outfit for rainy day that I recently sewed. I made a raincoat using the Loreen pattern from Apolline Pattern (also available in english). I have use the trench version for that. I was wishing to add a removable hood that turn into a hat (free pattern from Maison Fauve – available in english too). That’s a lovely outfit that make me wish to have more rainy days !
Materials
- Pattern Loreen from Apolline Pattern
- Free hat pattern from Maison Fauvre
- 2m20 from coated Liberty Thorpe 9005 from Stragier
- 1m30 for the lining : red cotton from Stragier
- Vlieseline G785
- Adhevise for fabric
- 6 buttons from La Drogerie
- 1m50 of cord
- Sewing machine Pfaff Passport 2.0
- Surjeteuse Juki MO-654 DEN
Coated liberty from Stragier
When I discovered the coated liberty from Stragier, I have immediately imagine to turn it into a raincoat. That’s a coat I was wishing to add into my wardrobe since a long time and I couldn’t resist longer with these beautiful fabrics. I had a crush for the Thorpe one that’s the one I choose for my raincoat.
Before this new adventure, I had never sew coated fabrics. That’s not the type of fabric you often see … Stragier’s coated liberty is rather thin and flexible (much more than a coated canvas for example). Which makes it a fairly suitable material for a coat that has hold.
As the fabric is coated, you have to follow a few instructions to avoid damaging it. Before you start sewing, I advise you to test the iron-resistance of your coated fabric. With the Stragier’s coated Liberty, I was able to use new iron on the back of the fabric. To use the iron on the front of the fabric, a put a wet fabric between the iron & my coated Liberty. Be careful with heat, coated or waterproof fabrics are particularly sensitive to it!
Here are also other tips to avoid damaging your coated fabric:
- Use sewing clips instead of pins. The idea is that you should not make any hole in your coated fabric otherwise you will break the waterproof property and the holes will remain clearly visible. If you don’t feel comfortable with sewing clips, you can use pins but only in the seam allowance.
- Similarly when you are cutting the pattern piece into your coated fabric, don’t use a pins to hold your pattern on your fabric. I used weights to put on the pattern pieces, and the cutting went very well. Coated Liberty is a fairly simple fabric to cut, it does not move or deform.
- Use a denim needle to sew and adjust the tension of your sewing machine correctly
- For the foot, I advise you to test by sewing on the front and back of your fabric to see if it hangs on the foot of your sewing machine. If so, you can use a Teflon foot. In my case, I used the usual foot of my machine because I had no problem on that side.
- If you have to interfacing some piece, be careful how hot your iron is and how much time you spend on the piece. For better temperature management, I used my Cricut Press set to 140° for 6 seconds.
- Be precise in your seams, because if you unstitch a seam, the holes will be visible and the waterproof property of the fabric will be lost. I haven’t unstitched anything on my raincoat or my hat.
- Finally, to have waterproof seams, you can glue them with fabric adhevise. Do not forget to do a test it before, in order to test the reaction of the adhesive with your fabric (check that the seam remains flexible while being waterproof, that the adhevise does not discolor your fabric)
By respecting these basic principles, I had no problem sewing my raincoat. The coated liberty is even rather simple to sew.
Loreen pattern from Apolline Pattern
When I started this project, the Loreen pattern had just being realized and I really liked its cut and all the lovely details of this coat. This is a pattern that contains two variations: a coat version and a trench version (with a drawstring to tighten the waist). It is this trench version that I used to make my raincoat.
I sewed the trench in size 34 but I should have made size 36. The coated Liberty has no stretch, so I think it gives the impression of a tighter garment. I can wear my raincoat without any problem, but I can’t put it on a big sweater or a sweater with puffy sleeves because the sleeves of the raincoat are particularly thin. It may be a good idea to oversize the raincoat you want to make if you are not starting from a pattern made for a coated or waterproof fabric.
It took me quite some time to sew this raincoat because it is a big piece with lots of details. It’s also the first coat I made so I was a little worried… As for the explanation, the booklet is clear but I mainly used the step-by-step video where Estelle shows you how to do all the steps properly. Very useful !
I did not make any changes to the pattern and I find the result very successful! I took the option with pockets and I lined my raincoat with a cotton poplin. I really wanted a model with a lining to have all the seams hidden inside and it’s very beautiful like that.
It’s really an adorable raincoat with the coated Liberty even if we certainly see less of the details of the pattern than with a plain fabric. I am delighted with the combination of the fabric and the pattern.
I initialy planned to add a removable hood but I did not manage to create a pattern for this hood. The collar of the raincoat being very close to the neck, I couldn’t manage it… Instead, I found another option that I really like: a “rain hat”!
My hat from Maison Fauve
As I couldn’t make a hood, I looked for another solution to complete my raincoat. The rain hat idea was suggested to me on Instagram and I immediately loved the idea ! After some pattern research, I chose the free hat pattern from Maison, I thought it looked great.
This hat is perfect for using your fabric scraps because it’s using small quantity of fabric. I made the inside with the remains of my raincoat lining and the outside in coated Liberty. I applied the same techniques as for sewing my coat without forgetting to glue the seams well to have a waterproof hat.
Size-wise, I slightly oversized my hat. After seeing the result on the size of the raincoat, I wanted to be sure I could put my head in it and that’s fine.
It is a free pattern that can be found on the Maison Fauve website. Unlike their other patterns, there isn’t much detail to this one but it’s not a very complicated piece to make. However, I did not understand the clips and I did what seemed to me the most aesthetic without necessarily respecting then, by putting the seams on the back or the sides (for the visor) of the hat.
I am delighted with the result! It really is a very cute set and the two pieces go very well together ! I love wearing them. The hat is also very easily transportable because it folds very well and slips easily into a bag.
To know more…
To learn more about how I have sew this outfit (raincoat & hat), I invite you to discover the video I made on this subject :
Camille
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