Coat lapels for Design Online

As my final project for Design Online, the Guild's first attempt at an online course, I decided to design embroidery to go along the lapels of a woollen coat I made a couple of years ago. It is in Italian felted wool and I had always intended to embroider the lapels.

I began by adapting some floral motifs from Annette Rich's Australian Wildflower Embroidery, but decided this was too detailed and fussy for the wool coat.

I did want Australian flowers, and I wanted the design to blend a bit with the dark purple coat, so I went looking for plants that might work, Hardenbergia violacea seemed to fit the bill.   Its hanging habit and long, pointy leaves seemed ideal for the coat.   

I translated this into a drawing, adjusted it, traced it onto Solvi,                   .

and tacked the two Solvi strips to the lapels of the coat.I selected a range of wool threads in the colours of the design. I chose to use the Australian threads I bought at the beginning of 2020 for my bushfire embroidery. That embroidery topic got a bit overtaken by Covid, so I'm happy to use some of the threads here. They are mainly Mogear, with a bit of Cascade House.

I had originally planned to work this project every month at the Basics to Beyond class at the Guild, but once I got into it I didn't want to stop - and a month between sessions was going to end up confusing me. 

I tore some of the Solvi off as I progressed so I could see how it was working. Most of the Solvi tore off quite easily.

The rest came off  without any trouble when I dabbed it with water on a cotton ball.

I did need to use my wrist brace while stitching. There was no way to put it in a hoop, and I get RSI in my left wrist from holding work in the same position for lengthy periods.

I also manage to put a needle right through the nail on my index finger - the result of pushing the needle with my nail and unthinkingly pushing the wrong end!

The embroidery result, however, is pleasing.

I rather like the way the flowers flow down the coat as they do on the plant.                                                                  

It's a bit of a mad project, but I've had it in mind since I made the coat, and I'm pleased to have done it. 

I don't imagine I'll wear the coat this year, but hopefully it will be used next winter.

The Brooklyn Jacket

This post is rather late in coming. I made the jacket just before going to hospital in July, took the photos at the time, wrote it up while recovering, but didn't post. As I use this blog as a record of work completed, I'm posting for the record.                                                                     Late in June, Tessuti Fabrics had a sale - 25% off all products. I was still on a high from my Berlin Jacket success so, on impulse, ordered the pattern for the Brooklyn Jacket and enough red Italian felted wool to make it.

I was attracted to the collar of the coat and the colour of the fabric.

The pattern uses the same method of matching seams as the earlier pattern. The pockets on this one are rounded and placed on the seams. It also had back pockets - but I decided not to include those. Like the previous jacket, it took only a couple of hours to make. This Italian felted wool is magic - much like stitching any form of felt.

The jacket has proved to be flexible, cosy and practical. I love the way the collar wraps around my throat. I think this has finished my jacket binge, but the two should get good use over the next couple of years. I also have a few left over pieces that might be useful for embroidery projects - one piece contributed to my recent scissor keep efforts.

The Berlin Jacket

Until the 1980s I made many of my own clothes. By the mid 1980s my work and family responsibilities left little time for dressmaking. When I finished full time work I smocked a couple of dresses for myself but for the most part buying clothes is easier - and leaves more time for embroidery and making clothes for children.

Amongst the promotional emails I receive regularly is one from Tessuti Fabrics in Sydney. They have a wonderful range of fabrics. They also stock specialist patterns. I bought some Japanese children's patterns from here when my grandchildren were smaller.

This week I received an email from them with announcement of a couple of new jacket patterns - and a new range of fabulous felted wool from Italy. I'd been looking for,a jacket much like these so I took the plunge. I ordered the pattern and fabric on Wednesday. It arrived on Friday. I cut out the jacket on Saturday and sewed it on Sunday.

It was a long weekend in Australia and, thanks to a friend's tip, I was helped along by the radio playing the voters's choice of the top 100 voice recordings on ABC Classic FM.

The pattern is available as a download, but I chose to have the paper pattern delivered with the fabric - since I don't have facilities for poster-size printing and didn't fancy taping A4 sheets together on that scale.

The pattern pieces were sturdy and very well marked. I had allowed a bit extra fabric to ensure the fronts of the jacket overlapped across my ample hips.


The fabric is truly lovely - both in colour and texture. It cuts and handles easily.

I was wowed by the simplicity of the technique for sewing the boiled wool. Pockets, sleeves and fronts are faced. The facing is lined up with the main piece edge and stitched on the right side. The other edge of the facing is stitched down on the wrong side. End of story.

The pocket, with facing attached is placed on the front and stitched around on the right side - nothing to turn under. No doubt others have been stitching like this for years - I enjoyed the discovery!

At the shoulders the front and back pieces are overlapped by 3/8" and stitched down on the right side.

The sleeves are joined in the same way. This leaves a narrow ridge on the right side. I thought it looked better flat, so simply ran another row of stitching along the ridge - giving an effect rather like a French seam. Very easy.

The side seams are stitched right side to right side and the bottom edge is left raw. Next time I'd experiment with a flat side seam.

I really enjoyed the adventure of making this jacket - and couldn't wait to try it out. It is warm, soft and comfortable. I like it with the scarf my friend Vivienne gave me in 2012 and my Robyn Gordon dragonfly brooch.

I have a couple of pieces of left-over fabric that I think will take some Kantha embroidery. I might one day succumb to greed and buy the pattern for the Brooklyn Coat and the Cherry Tepore Marle boiled wool.