A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of test-sewing Nicole Mallalieu of You Sew Girl!‘s latest garment pattern, the All Seasons Coat.  And now I can finally blog it!

It has been a while since I sewed a fully lined coat, but I have to say that Nikki’s excellent instructions and her impeccable pattern drafting really made things quite straightforward. Everything fitted together beautifully.

Stella chose the hooded, belted version of the pattern. It can also be made with a collar – have a look at the stunning coat that Blogless Anna made for her daughter! I used cotton velveteen as the outer fabric, and printed quilting cotton for the lining.

The buttons are vintage – I luckily had five larger ones for the front of the coat, with matching smaller ones for the pockets and sleeve tabs. Clearly, it was meant to be.

The raglan sleeves are two piece, and sit so nicely. I find that raglan sleeves are terrific for children as they give more freedom of movement and are easy to put on. Stella is also enjoying the hood.

I made this in size 6, which is quite roomy for Stella at the moment and will get lots of wear for the remainder of this winter and for all of next. The pattern ranges from size 4 to size 8.  There is quite a lot of top-stitching, so you do need to pay a bit of attention and keep those stitches straight and even, and it is important to pay attention to the pattern markings as instructed (ask me how I know). I don’t have anything negative to say about this coat pattern, and as always I learned clever tricks that can be applied to other garments in the future.  In fact, it has inspired me to sew a lined coat for myself sooner rather than later! But I don’t think that I will be able to look half as cute in mine as Stella does in hers.

The pattern is available for pre-order now at Stitch 56, and I think will be released next week (check out the stockists page for details).

And see, not everything that I sew is a two hour quickie!