A Pimped Out Louisa Coat

I feel like one of the luckiest girls in the world. I got to be a tester for Compagnie M‘s fantastic new pattern, the Louisa Coat!

The design of this coat features a really sweet pocket design that you can embellish with piping, and two back versions, one with complementary piping and one plain. There are also two collars or a hood to choose from, and the closure can be a zipper or buttons.

I know this coat is designed for thicker and stiffer fabrics to really keep out that cold, but since we live in Texas and don’t see too many freezing cold days, I used some thinner, more drapey fabrics. I was a tiny bit nervous that the style wouldn’t hold up with such an unstructured fabric, but it totally worked out!! So now you know it can work with both! Thank goodness, lol!

It was perfect timing, Millie has recently had a huge growth spurt and no longer fits in anything, including last year’s winter jacket. So I took her to Joann’s so she could pick out which fabric she wanted for her new coat :) She gets super excited to be part of the designing process for her clothes!

I should have known this girl would pick something FABULOUS. Hello, super fluffy fabric! Oh, HEY, hilarious leopards in the jungle innards!!! I would have picked something WAY more subdued, but I’m always so happy with and I get a lot more joy out of her choices!!

The girl cutting the fabrics was having a hoot of a time laughing at what would become a 7-year old’s insanely pimping coat. She was cracking up, like only pimps and old ladies would have coats like this.. And my Millie, of course! She really does have her own style and I LOVE it!

I went with the Tulip Elton collar because I just love the extra button detail in the back. And that piping! It is such a weird awesome roping that adds just a bit more oomph to the whole thing, like as if this coat could have been MORE fabulous! Again, an amazing Millie choice! I swear this girl is going to be some sort of designer one day. She doesn’t have much interest in doing the actual sewing, she just draws up her designs and expects her minions (me) to whip them out for her. A real leader, lol!

This was my first time sewing a coat and I thought it would be a kind of difficult challenge, but it totally wasn’t! I’ll admit, with Nova here, I was a little afraid that I wouldn’t have the time to finish it. But I was wrong! There are a few more prep steps, but everything goes together pretty fast and easy. This mother of three managed to print the pattern, trace it out, add seam allowances, cut it out, cut the fabric, interface it up and sew the whole thing in less than a week! So you can too, I promise!! Plus Marte included seam allowances in the final pattern so you can skip that step altogether! Woohoo!!

It was fun, too :D Since you’re sewing a lining into the outer coat, most of the time you’re sewing inside out. The final result is a bit of a mystery! There is this crazy satisfaction that comes with turning everything inside in and seeing the completed coat when you’re done. I’m was pleasantly surprised when I turned the whole thing right-side out and the coat ended up being very sweet and not too pimp-y at all!

I did have a bit of an issue sewing those darn button holes, which made me wish I had gone with the zipper. My machine WOULD NOT sew the holes into the coat to save its life. Just as thick test scraps? NO PROBLEMO! Actual coat? NOPE. But Millie had requested buttons so I had to persevere! I ended up just cutting the holes and hand binding them with a needle and thread. Thank goodness the fabric I used was synthetic and doesn’t tear on its own! And it was easier and less time consuming than I would have thought, so YAY!

I had such a fun time during the testing process. I was the only non-Dutch speaking person, so I went back and forth with a LOT of Google translate, which isn’t always the most accurate, especially with sewing terms! But I know a bunch of Dutch words now. Turns out sewing is a fun way to learn a new language, lol! There are SO many gorgeous versions of this coat that all the testers made, you should check out the Compagnie M blog to see all the other beautiful coats :)

This pattern comes in both a paper version and a PDF version. And from now until December 4, there is a 10% off discount if you type in the code LOUISACOAT10. Sweet!!

Happy sewing, y’all!!