Making A Quilt Coat: Part Two

Welcome to the second installment of my quilt coat journey. After making my muslin coat that was detailed in Part One, I set out on my mission to make a beautiful, unique, and detailed quilt coat that I pieced together and quilted myself. 

As you may recall, my first quilt coat was made from a pre-quilted bedspread, so it was important to me to free-motion this pieced coat myself. I’ve been dabbling in free motion quilting over the past couple years and I really only free motion quilt my quilts now. 

I recently got a new sewing machine! I had been sewing on a Pfaff Creative 2134 for years. I purchased it used from Craig’s List for $400. It was a great machine and had some cool features but it was beginning to show its age even after I had it serviced and repaired. My Pfaff was great for free motion, but I couldn’t find a free motion ruler foot for it. The ruler foot has a taller lip and is circular so that the edges are all equally 1/4” from the needle. This helps with consistency when using a ruler for lines or shapes in free motion quilting.

Considering the fact that I’ve been averaging about 12 quilts a year since I began sewing, the investment in a new machine was worth it. I had been researching for a while and I finally set my heart on a Janome Memory Craft 6650. It has an automatic needle threader, built-in thread cutter, locking stitch/knot function, ruler foot compatibility, drop in bobbin, and LOADS of throat space to the right of the needle. I have been sewing on it for a few months and I am IN LOVE. All that to say, I was really stoked about using my ruler foot to free motion on my new quilt coat...but I had no idea what quilt pattern to use...

I wanted to do something more than pieced squares, although they make GORGEOUS coats. See Exibit A. I figured I would choose my fabric first and see what pattern fit it best.

If you’re a quilter, you are probably familiar with the incredibly talented ladies of Ruby Star Society. They have consistently designed the most interesting and beautiful fabrics and I was particularly enamored with Alexia Marcelle Abegg’s collection of woven fabrics, Warp and Weft. 

I had purchased a layer cake, or pack of 10” squares of the fabric just so I didn’t miss an opportunity to have some in my stash when I decided what project I wanted to make with it. I cherished the fabric and I new my quilt would need to be special and one I kept, which is super rare for me. I gift most of my quilts and I do very few commissions. As I shopped my stash for fabricfor my quilt coat, I thought the beautiful fall color palette with some lovely lavenders thrown in would be PERFECT for a quilted coat. I didn’t even know how right I was. 

At that point I started researching good quilt patterns for a quilted coat. (If you read Part One, you know I used the Heidi Hooded Cardigan from Style Arc for the coat pattern)  I needed a quilt pattern that didn’t use a background fabric because I wanted Warp and Weft to be the entire outside of the garment. I also knew the woven fabric wouldn’t appreciate a lot of handling, so I wanted a pattern that was square/rectangle based if possible. Tough criteria: not a traditional block style quilt, needed to look good scrappy, mostly squares and rectangles...I did some digging and came across this gorgeous quilt made by Kitchen Table Quilting. 

She used the newest release in the Warp and Weft family, Heirloom, but when I saw how lovely the wovens worked in this pattern, my heart was set on it. I read her blog and to my delight, the pattern, called Plaidish is a free download! How generous of this talented quilter to share her hard work with us for free. I would have gladly purchased it and I know I will be buying her quilt patters in the future.

Now that I had my pattern, I started cutting.  The Plaidish pattern calls for the quilter to sort the fabrics into light, medium, and dark value.  I added a few Ruby Star Society fat quarters to my Warp and Weft fabrics because I was not sure I had enough.  Turns out, I needed a few pieces from an additional layer cake due to the block layout of the Plaidish pattern.

I made a few test blocks to get an idea about how to get the layout I wanted on the back.  I wanted the scrappy plaid look to come through, but I wanted the fabric of the coat to be symmetrical and lined up correctly.  I used the center of the back, which is marked on the cardigan pattern pattern at the top and bottom of the back panel.  Here are the test blocks.

The pattern uses three blocks: a mostly dark block that is the largest, a mostly light block that is the smallest, and a mid-toned block that is rectangular, with one side as long as the dark block and one side as long as the light block.  It works out in a pretty genius way and major kudos to Kitchen Table Quilting on that!

I decided on a really beautiful backing/coat lining fabric by Giucy Giuce. It goes perfectly with the Warp and Weft fabrics. I didn’t line the coat with a separate lining for a few reasons.  Primarily, I don’t know how to without a pattern, but I also wanted my quilting to show. 

I had an idea of how many blocks I would need by laying the test blocks on my coat back panel template.  Pro tip: I did not trim the top, batting, or backing before quilting.  I made sure the fabric was larger than the quilt coat panel in the position I wanted it to be in. The fabric drew up some on all sides when it was quilted.

Next I decided how to quilt it.  Since I started free-motion quilting, this has become my favorite part.  I cracked open my free motion quilting "Bibles", the Shape by Shape books by Angela Walters. (There are two) and they are a treasure trove for a free motion quilter.  I have learned so much from Angela in her online classes, YouTube videos, and books.  She is the guru of free motion...to say nothing of the fact that she is so hilarious!  I love her work and she has made me a better quilter no doubt.

I settled on using a ribbon candy pattern in the strips and what Angela refers to as a "dot to dot" quilting pattern in the larger squares/rectangles.  I used a ruler, actually designed by Ms. Walters herself.  After all, I had this beautiful new machine with a compatible ruler foot for quilting; I might as well use it!

Once I had the back quilted, I trimmed it down and LOVED the result.

I started getting pretty excited and this point and began laying out my pieces for the front panels.  I quickly realized I was going to need more fabric so I purchased another layer cake and said a thankful prayer that it was not out of stock! *praise hands*  Another pro-tip for you: Don't forget to turn your pattern template over, or better yet, draft a mirror image of the original onto pattern paper so that you remember you need a mirror image pair, not two of the same shape.  I ALMOST ended up with two panels that were the same and I would have cried some big tears over that!

I was particular about how the fabric layout would "read" across the front of the quilt.  I wanted the Plaidish pattern to continue across the middle of the front of the coat, so I laid out both panels at the same time and then based them on a continuous piece of backing and batting.  While on the subject of basting, I want to point out that I use one-sided fusible batting on a bolt.  I love this method.  I used to spray baste, which I liked, but when we moved, my kitchen floor is now two stories below my sewing space in our finished attic, and I am not one to carry all of my supplies up and down the stairs that often.  Angela (yes, another ode to the master herself) uses fusible batting, and who am I to question her lol.  I tried it when we moved into our new house, and I love it.  I place the backing down on my work surface of my quilting cabinet, wrong side up, then layer the batting with the fusible side up, and then lay the quilt top on, right side up.  I iron all the pieces together and voila!  It's basted.  If I'm making a quilt, I secure the perimeter with pins, but the coat pieces did not require this.  The back of the batting that is not fusible has enough nap and texture to cling to the backing just fine.

I roughly trimmed the front panels leaving approximately an inch around the perimeter.  I lined up the middle of the front coat panel (the opening at the front) with one side and made sure there would be plenty of room once I quilted the fabric to trim it to size and that it would not be too small. I was careful when i basted and cut to make sure the pattern would look like it continued across the coat and lined up correctly.

Next, I attached the shoulders of the back panel to the shoulders of the corresponding front panel and finished the seams with double fold bias tape.  When I attached the seam finishes, I used monofilament thread to sew it down.  This ensured that it did not show through the on the outside of the coat and take away from the quilting I spent so much time perfecting.  I also wanted the thread to blend inside so it looked seamless.

When it came time to piece the hood panels and sleeves, I decided to deviate slightly from the Plaidish pattern.  I still utilized the blocks from the pattern, but instead of continuing the patter, which I was worried would create a lot of wasted fabric to do accurately, I decided to go for an ombré look.  To achieve this, I used only the lighter value blocks from the quilt pattern on the hood and only the dark value blocks for the sleeves.  I got them quilted and cut and was ready to sew the hood panels together.

After that, I finished the middle seam of the hood inside in the same way I did the shoulders.  It was a bit tricky to sew it to the curved hood, but I managed.  I attached the sleeves to the coat and sewed the side seams of the coat together.  To do this, I used wonder clips to clip the coat together, matching the underarm seams and the edges of the garment at the bottom of the coat and the wrists.  This cardigan pattern works so well for a quilt coat.  All the seams and edges matched up so well for me both times.  Then came time to attach the hood.  I started at the center and clipped it to the collar area of the coat.  (I am such a garment novice that I have no idea if I am calling the parts of the coat by the correct names lol.)  This was a bit tricky as well, but I used the wonder clips again and used my knowledge about curved piecing to work it into place.  It sewed together perfectly, and I finished the seam along the hood attachment with double fold bias tape and monofilament.

Finally, it was time to bind the coat!  And not a moment too soon, because it was Friday afternoon (which I have off from work) and the quilt coat along I was participating in was ending.  I wanted my coat to be part of the quilt coat fashion show hashtag and be eligible for the prizes, so I was really under a time crunch.  I measured the sleeve wrist openings, which were 12".  I cut two strips of binding that were 12.5" each.  I lowered my stitch length to 1.5 and folded the binding, right sides together, and sewed the 2.5" raw ends together to make a circle of binding.  After pressing the seam open, I tested the fit around the sleeve opening, and it was perfect.  I sewed the binding to the inside of the sleeve and flipped it over to topstitch on the outside of the coat sleeve.

Then I bound the whole coat just like I would bind a quilt.  I used one strip of fabric to match the inside of the coat and the rest was from Lizzy House's Constellations line.  I attached the fabric to the outside of the coat and flipped it around, stitching in the ditch to attach it to the inside of the coat.  The finished coat is one of my favorite things I have ever made and has become a prized possession.  I have gotten SO many lovely compliments on it on Instagram.  Tina, one of the quilt coat along organizers, and the Ruby Start Society reposted my coat.  I am so honored that it has received such a good response.  I can't wait to wear it for years to come.

Thanks for reading!! Until next time, I’ll be crafting more than just legal arguments,

Melissa