Firstly – I sewed this a year ago.  I took some photos, looked at them and was very unhappy with how the hems were sitting.  So it sat, for months, until I fixed the problem.  Then it sat again, for months, until I finally got around to taking these photos!

It’s the Tessuti Oslo coat, sewn in wool/cashmere coating from Super Cheap Fabrics, bought a few years ago. It’s actually teal in colour; my phone can never get this shade correct in photos.

From the pattern page: The Oslo Coat is a fully lined, double-breasted style with a shawl collar, full length raglan sleeves and side pockets. This classic style has a straight fit and sits on or just above the knee.

I have just discovered a link on that pattern page to a tutorial for catching the lining hems together! If only I’d realised this tutorial existed before I sewed the coat! It would have helped quite a bit with all that angst, and the many months of leaving the coat to sit. Ah well, now I know for future reference, and hopefully now you know as well if you want to make it!

This is a lined coat, which makes it warm and cosy, but also means that you need to know how to finish the hems properly in order for everything to sit nicely. I eventually catch-stitched the entire facing and the sleeve hems to the main fabric, and used loads of steam and a clapper to press all the edges into submission without anything hanging weirdly or pulling.

I used vintage Liberty silk (!!!) that was in my stash for the lining. I’m generally not likely to wear that type of floral, but it’s super pretty and makes such a special lining. I added a hanging loop to the centre back, and my label. The colour in the above photo is fairly accurate. I also used the Liberty for the pocket bags.

I did add some raglan shoulders pads to help the coat to have a little more structure. The collar does tend to ‘collapse’ a little, but that’s not surprising when you consider that other than interfacing, it doesn’t have much tailoring.

I decided to not both with a button; it’s meant to be slightly double breasted, with one feature button and another hidden on the inside. I really didn’t want to make a mess of the buttonhole through the layers of coating, didn’t want to do a bound buttonhole, and didn’t really know where I could take it to get a professional buttonhole made. So I took the lazy route and just didn’t bother! I might still get a professional buttonhole made at a later stage, but in Melbourne’s relatively mild winters (relative to the Colorado winter we recently experienced!) it should be fine without a closure. However, no closure means that the inside staystitching below the roll line is visible.

I didn’t shorten the coat, so rather than being above or on the knee, on my 158cm frame it’s longer. Now that I’ve finally started wearing it, I am really enjoying it! It’s very warm and cosy, and I love the rich teal colour.