Patchwork Denim Coat

This coat. Well, lemme tell you two things about it. 1) it took a bloody age to make, and I loved almost every minute of making it. 2) I don't think I'm going to keep it. 

Ever since the success of my scrap-busting patchwork viscose Scout tee, I had in mind doing something similar with denim. I had masses of scraps and small pieces of denim left over from other projects. Denim scraps just aren't as useful as lighter weight fabric scraps for working into other garments or turning into useful gift-y things like schrunchies. I was inspired by a couple of upcycled denim projects that I'd seen on Instagram, including a haori-style jacket that I can't find now. So I decided to use my beloved La Trop Facile pattern by Delphine et Morissette as the base, but lengthen both the body and the sleeves.  

Next was the fun bit. I got all my denim pieces together, and spent a number of the evenings over a couple of weeks hacking them, matching them and stitching them together. I got to select the pieces I liked the best to feature more prominently, and tried to combine them so the overall effect was varied. I decided to include some of the lovely selvedges to break up the blue a bit, and to (hopefully) create an interesting, graphic effect. 

I started on a few sections, joined some of them together and expanded where necessary until I had panels large enough to fit my pattern pieces on. There was a massive back panel, two front panels, two sizeable sleeve-rectangles and a collar. I stitched the outer together, save for the collar, then made a lining. 

Because I was working very much from the angle of #usewhatyouhave, I used some turquoise silk lining from my stash. In hindsight, I don't think it was the best choice as it's very fine, and probably more suited for use in a dress. Anyways, I made the lining then spent a lot of time head-scratching, trying to work out how to insert it. Have done so, I then attached the collar, hand-stitching the inside seam. 

I soooo wish I was the type of person who would wear this. I love the idea and ethics behind 'making fabric' from fabric scraps, and I wish I could fully embody that by wearing this coat out and about. But I've come to accept that it just really isn't my style. It's just too jarring with the rest of my wardrobe.

Therefore I'm going to ask around my IRL friends to see if any of them would like it. I do not regret making it at all, it was such a fun project to work on. I loved exploring the concept of 'fabric from fabric scraps' further and I'm sure I'll do more in the future. 

Now, a tiny bit of house-keeping. I'm afraid I've had to turn off the comments on this blog, at least for a while. The amount of spam I've been getting is ridiculous, I even had two people actually message me about it via Instagram last week. I've exhausted the options within Blogger to curtail it, so I'm not sure what to do. I'm so sad to have had to take this step though, because I absolutely love reading the genuine comments and having a dialogue with my readers, but those comments usually get completely lost within the spam. Thanks so much if you are someone who has commented on previous posts, please know that I really appreciated them. If you would ever like to get in contact with me, my email address is available on my About Me page, and my IG handle is @sozoblog.