Another First!

You guys….I just finished participating in a Sew Along and ended up with the most awesome project that I’m so excited to share with you! And besides having an awesome project, I’m also very proud of myself because I stepped out of my sewing comfort zone on this one, heck…I didn’t just step outside of it, I backed up as far as I could and ran and jumped so far out of that zone I can’t even see the zone anymore lol!

So roughly a couple of months ago, Teresa Coates, who is the National Educator for Shannon Fabrics but also has her own Etsy shop featuring her own sewing patterns called Crinkle Dreams, had shared a few pictures of herself wearing the most amazing coat that she made using one of her patterns, the Elemental Coat Pattern, and I was immediately intrigued! She also taught a few classes of it and the participants coats were incredible too! They were all so very different, obviously because there’s only about a billion fabrics to choose from Shawna lol, but the majority of them all had “something” similar to them, no matter the print….and that was that they were all quilted….and that’s because….are you ready for this, THEY WERE QUILTS THAT YOU CUT UP AND MAKE INTO A COAT!!!!! My mind was blown! I could just picture all you amazing quilters that may have one or two, maybe more lol, quilts that you love but they’re just hanging around, or tucked away in a spare bedroom where no one can admire them except your overnight guests….and now you can make them into a piece of artwork that you can wear and it will be admired by hundreds of people!!!

Ok so how many times have you heard me say “I’m not a quilter”?!? I’m sure it’s close to 842 by now lol, so I’m sure you’re wondering why I was so intrigued by this…..I obviously don’t have any quilts so why would I care about this, other than I just love other’s creative projects? Well let me tell you, this is exactly what Teresa said to me, “the pattern works for lots of fabrics! I’ve used quilts, canvas, quilting cotton, an old bedspread, lace tablecloth and corduroy”! Guess who just happens to have a few pieces of upholstery type fabrics just hanging out on her fabric shelf?!?

Once hearing this, I immediately signed up for Teresa’s FREE SAL! Other than buying the pattern, I didn’t spend a dime on fabric or anything! I very, very rarely make clothing, and certainly never a quilted coat so I wasn’t sure if I was going to hate the entire project and the end result so I didn’t want to spend a lot of money! As I said, I had the exterior fabric already picked out and while you can line the jacket, that didn’t sound overly appealing to me so I most certainly wasn’t going to do that lol!

We all kicked the SAL off with a Zoom meeting on Sunday, August 27, and Teresa shared some information and showed us some of the coats she had already made. We then took turns sharing what we were planning on using…..it was so exciting to see the quilts and fabrics everyone had chosen, and I’ll admit, I was kind of jealous as I saw some amazing quilts that were going to be turned into these masterpieces! So much so that I actually considered hitting up some second hand stores to see if I could find a quilt that I could use, I just really wanted that quilted look! It was then and there I decided what I had to do…..I had to quilt the fabric I was going to use so I too could have that same look!

So sticking with the whole “I’m not going to spend money on this”, I dove into my fabric stash and found a cotton fabric that I could use for the backing of my “quilt”, which proved difficult because I always buy smaller amounts of fabrics so my choices were limited! What was harder though was the whole batting situation….I don’t own batting, I don’t quilt, remember lol?!? But, as a bag maker, what do I have lots of…..fusible fleece lol! So yes, I fused my Pellon 971 Thermolam to my “Friend’s” (the TV show) cotton prints (I had to use 2 different prints to get enough yardage lol) and then I sprayed that with 505 Temporary Adhesive and attached my exterior before heading over to my sewing machine to quilt this together! Only one problem, I didn’t know how to quilt lol! When I’ve done it on a couple of little crafty projects, I just did it with straight lines but I didn’t know how that would look on these big pieces….or if I could even maneuver the pieces through my machine to do it! Finally I just mustered up some nerve and just quilted the pieces with big random, nilly-willy lines going every which way, still not sure if I was doing it correctly lol! Either way, it worked, the pieces were attached and I was pretty ok with the whole thing!

Teresa sent us out a new email each Sunday outlining our objectives that week, and thankfully, they included video tutorials she made for us so away I’d go! I felt so accomplished once I completed each task, let me tell you! Finally, last week we received the final step instructions….binding the jacket eeeeeekkkk lol, but I finished it and as I put that coat on, I literally almost cried tears of sheer joy……..I DID IT, I FREAKIN’ DID IT…..I MADE A COAT!!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness you guys, I just can’t believe I made this! Truth time once again….is it my favourite fabric? No lol! Will I still wear this with pride? That’s a big huge YES!!!! I have an event coming up in a few weeks and I already know I’m going to wear this and love every second of it!

We had a Zoom Wrap Up Party on Sunday and it was so fun to see what everyone made. I was so impressed with every single person’s coats, and they were all so very different. It was so inspiring to see what everyone came up with…some used quilts, some used pre-quilted fabrics, some used single layer fabrics…..so many different processes, it was amazing!

I can’t encourage all of you enough to give this pattern a try! I think it’s so well written that I could have followed it without videos! There are many variations included as well…..there’s 3 different lengths, a collar/hood/plain option, 2 different sleeve lengths, you can do pockets or not, and includes sizes 4/6 – 22/24…so many choices! Just for the record, I did the full length with 3/4 sleeves.

Well, that’s all I have to share for now lol! I would love to hear if you’re interested in trying something like this too, especially if you do have a quilt you’d actually consider cutting into, which I’m sure would be the scariest part in the beginning lol! If you’ve already made one, or something similar, please send me pictures….I’d absolutely love to see them! I already have another one planned and you guys aren’t even going to believe what I have planned lol, that might be a big hint right there lol!

Have an amazing week all you wonderful friends!

Shawna