Tuesday 18 May 2021

Up the Zambeesi

 A few weeks ago a friend gave me some upholstery fabric offcuts. I love using these fabrics because they usually have a high cotton or linen content and are robust fabrics intended for durability, longevity and hard wear. 

To the 3 fabrics I was given I added some pieces from my own stash. I sewed a coat using my pdf pattern "Zambeesi Jacket" adding another tier to lengthen it into a coat.

Zambeesi Jacket PDF pattern

In the picture of the pattern cover above the brown and gold version of the jacket shown at the bottom is also made from upholstery fabric offcuts.



The buttons were unmatched vintage ones salvaged from other used, discarded garments. I don't worry about measuring exact distancing between the button placements so they are positioned 2 to a section of the front placket at random.



I really love that fabric on the upper right front. It was originally a cotton hand appliqued cushion cover, quite a large one at 50x50cm, bought for $3 from a thrift shop.




The picture above on the dress model shows the coat length.

If you have the Zambeesi pattern, or are interested to buy it, this is how I added the lower tier to lengthen it into a coat.

I cut 14 pieces from the pattern piece "Centre Front(6)" and sewed them together into a row, with the tapered sides up. Incredibly, the length of the strip created was exactly right to fit to the hem without needing to cut any excess off. (I made a Medium size, this may not happen if making any of the other sizes, but its simply a matter of cutting off any excess to get it to fit) This was then sewed to the hem. To lengthen the front placket to fit down the longer front I cut and added another section 15.5 x 22.5cm, inserted as the third section down.