Patriciann Designs Presents

Gypsy Sweater Coat

Table of Contents:

SECTION ONE: MAKING THE COAT WITH A TUTORIALSECTION TWO: MAKING THE COAT WITH A PATTERN

Chapter One: Starting Your Sweater Coat 1: Introduction

2: Gathering Your Supplies3: Choosing Your Sweaters

4: Cutting Your SweaterChapter 2: The Sewing of the Coat

1: Bodice2: Skirt

3: Waistband4: Sewing it together

5: Choosing your Bottom Rows6: Sleeves7: Hood

8: Finishing9: Front Strip

Additional Information

INTRODUCTION

Wow! These coats are amazing aren’t they? If you are anything like me, you have long admired them, and longed to own one, but just simply couldn’t afford one. I have come

to your rescue!

When I first saw these coats I fell in love. I admired them for many years….and over those years I have

developed my crafting skills considerably. Coming from my original shop Furbabies Boutique, in which I handmade dog clothing, to releasing the patterns to all my dog clothing originals, then opening a new shop, Winter Olive, that is

strictly people patterns, to crocheting all kinds of footwear, even outdoor footwear….I’ve come along way!

And along the way I have met some wonderful people! And my whole reason for making patterns is to help all you

wonderful people make amazing items that you cant afford to buy.

So here we are. We are going to make this elusive beauty!! Here we go!!

GATHERING YOUR SUPPLIES*Here is where you choose what machine you want to use. You don’t have

to use a serger. You can use a regular sewing machine. YES! A regular sewing machine. I have both a serger and a sewing machine, and I chose to use a

sewing machine for this tutorial because most of you have a sewing machine rather than a serger. If you have a serger and want to use it by all means go ahead. But all the pics etc are of the coat being sewn by a sewing machine.

*You will need 5 spools of thread. Don’t buy cheap thread here, buy stronger thread. You will have less breakage and the finished coat will be

stronger.*Scissors

*straight pins*tape measure

*15-20 sweaters *Iron

CHOOSING YOUR SWEATERSThe first thing you need to decide is color. For my coat I choose

creams/ivorys/white/tans. After you have decided your colors…..GO SHOPPING! YAY!!!

Head over to your local thrift shop and pick out 15-20 sweaters. Its best to have a couple extra in case you make mistakes. Try to pick sweaters that

have longer sleeves. The sleeves are what make the skirt part of the coat….the longer the better. Choose one sweater to use for your bodice. I

used a chenille sweater for my bodice, and if I could do it over again I would use something a bit more sturdy. Pick something with a little thickness to it. Your bodice sweater should fit you well, and remember you will be wearing

it over clothing so make sure it isn’t too small.When you get home, wash your sweaters in hot water and dry on hot. This will pre-shrink them and then you wont have to worry about washing your

coat in the future.

The first thing I had to do when creating this coat was figure out all the components. Here is

the coat with all its components:

CUTTING YOUR SWEATER

Im including this simple drawing to help you. I have also added actual cutting pics in the tutorial.

This is how to cut your sweater up. Cut off the collar,

sleeves, cuffs and bottom.

CHAPTER TWO: THE SEWING OF THE COAT

Here we go! Get ready to make an amazing work of art!

BODICEHere is how to cut your bodice:

Save your scraps!!!Cut off the sleeves about 4 inches from the wrist, or right

before the elbow.Cut off the collar.

Cut up the front in the center.Now try on your bodice. Make a mark one inch below your

bust. Lay the sweater back down and cut across on your mark.

Set your bodice aside.

SKIRTNow onto the skirt! This coat has an nice full hemline. Later I will discuss how to make the skirt fuller or less full, but for

the coat in the picture continue on. You will use about 10 sweaters here so pick the colors you want

in your skirt, and choose the longest sleeves.Take all 10 of your sweaters and cut off the sleeves right in

front of the seam. Cut off the cuffs.

Now take a sleeve, cut up the seam, cut off the seam, and cut into pieces. Cut the sleeves to look like long triangles, with a 2 inch width and one end and 6 inch width at the other end. For a fuller coat, increase the wider width even wider….perhaps 8 or 9 inches. Keep in mind if you do that you may need more

sweaters for the bottom rows.

If your sweater has extra wide sleeves you can get 3 pieces out of each one.

As you see in the pic above I cut 3 pieces out of this sleeve. If you want a fuller coat cut your sleeves according to the following:

Arrange your skirt panels in the order you want them to look

Then stack them up in one pile starting from the right and going left.

Set your machine to zig zag st, and to the lowest stitch length it has. Mine was a one. This makes the zig zag really tight

and small. I used a size 16 needle, that is what I recommendStarting with the top panel in your pile, take off one, then the next one, placing them WRONG sides together. Start at the

skinny end and sew to the wide end. Stitch about 1/8-1/4 inch from the edge. Feed the sweater into the machine with your left hand and stitch, gently pulling from the back with your

right hand as it goes through the needle. Repeat until you have all the pieces sewn together.

Now hold your skirt against the bottom of your bodice…do they match? The

skirt should be as wide as the bottom of your bodice. If not add or take away

panels.Now you have a skirt!

WAISTBAND

The waistband is a rectangle the length of the bottom of your bodice by 4 inches wide. Cut this rectangle out.

TIES FOR WAISTBANDThis is another rectangle. Cut a rectangle approx. 25 inches long and 4 inches wide.

Cut the rectangle in half like this:

Now sew around the sides of each tie. I start at the wide end and sew to the tip, then stop. Then I start again at the top and sew

down the other side to the tip. Set aside.

SEWING IT TOGETHERPin the waistband to the bottom of the bodice, wrongs sides

together. Sew.

Pin the skirt to the waistband, wrong sides together. Sew.

WOW!! Now you have a coat…sorta!

Try the coat on and check the fit. The waistband should fall right below your bust, if the weight of the skirt pulls it down

too far you can fix this. Grab the seam of the bodice/waistband, and sew right up the middle. Then cut off

the excess. If you do this you will have to adjust the width of your ties also.

Now attach the ties. Measure in 7-8 inches from each end of your waistband and mark. Pin your ties onto the waistband,

and sew one on each end.

Now look at the bottom of your coat. It is probably uneven. If you wanted to make a pixie bottomed coat, leave it as is, and cut some points

in each panel, then sew the bottom. If you want a longer coat with rows on the bottom,

trim your panels to one equal length.

BOTTOM ROWS

Measure the bottom parameter of your bottom hem. The strips you cut need to equal that measurement when sewn together, and are 4 inches wide. To

make the bottom rows, cut your sweaters like this:

Cut one end open on each strip, then sew them together to make one long strip.

Then sew them, one row at a time, onto the bottom of your skirt, wrong sides together.

Repeat until you have as many rows as you want.

Your coat is coming along nicely!!! Are you excited??? I know I was!!!Ok now lets do the sleeves.

SLEEVES

The sleeves are just rectangles in descending sizes. Measure your arm 2 inches above the elbow to the

middle of your hand. Your sleeves will be this length total. Ok…. Cut the rectangles as shown in the diagram. Cut 2 of each so you have 2 exact

same sized sleeves.26 x 425 x 224 x 420 x 616 x 2

Now sew them together. Don’t line up the edges when you sew, place them approx. 1 inch from the top of the previous strip, then sew to the end.

Your finished sleeve should look like this.

Now drape the sleeve over your arm from the point where you started your measurement…2 inches

above your elbow. Is the sleeve long enough? Too long? Add or take away strips to get the correct measurement. If it’s the correct length, continue.

Trim off as shown here:

Sew up the seam and your sleeve is done.

Repeat for second sleeve. Then set aside.

HOODDo the same thing as you did with the sleeves, making each piece a bit smaller that the next. With the exception of the first rows at the top of the hood. This is the part that frames the face. Cut 4

rectangles each measuring 4 inches x 30 inches. Then cut descending sizes until you get to the tip. Sew them together the

same way you did the sleeves.

After they are all sewn together, lay the hood down and fold in half. Trim up the hood the

same way you trimmed the sleeves.

Now sew the seam of the hood, leaving the first 4 strips unsewn. DO NOT sew these first 4 strips together at the

seam.

Now set the hood aside.

FINISHINGOk, now we are going to attach the sleeves to the bodice. Put your coat on. Slide one sleeve up and place it onto your bodice sleeve where you want it to be. You may have to trim a bit more of you bodice sleeve to get the length correct. Make a

mark or place a pin on the bodice sleeve where you want to sew your coat sleeve onto. Do the same for the other sleeve.

Remove your coat, and trim bodice sleeves at your mark. Take your coat sleeve, turn it inside out and slide it into your bodice

sleeve opening. Now line up the bottom seams of your coat sleeve and bodice sleeve and sew them together.

Now reach in and pull out your sleeve…..ta da!

Now we are going to sew the hood on.

Find the center back of your hood and pin it to the center back of your bodice. Start pinning the hood to the bodice. The front of the hood should

come down the front of bodice a good ways, sort of forming a V front.

Sew on the hood. Add a pom pom or tassel to the hood end if you want.Hem the bottom of your coat.

FRONT STRIPThis strip goes down the front of your coat on both sides. Measure your coat from the neck to bottom and cut 2 strips that length x 2 inches. You can

piece the strip together from multiple pieces to get the correct length if you don’t have one continuous

piece.Now just sew that on from the neck to bottom.

When sewing, sew the strip directly over the hood.

Sew down one side of the strip, the whole way down the front of the coat, across the bottom and back up. If this is too bulky for you, just stop at the bottom, fasten off and start again at the top of the strip, then stitch across the top of the strip and the bottom of the strip. Repeat for the other strip on the other side of the coat. If you want to add

neck ties, which I did, cut another set just like you did for the waist ties. Then attach them at the neck.

Guess what???? YOURE COAT IS DONE! You did it!!!

Now go around and cut off all the stray strings if you have them. Trim any bumpy spots but make sure you don’t cut the stitching.

Now put your coat on and swirl! Take some pics and send them to me!! I would love to see!!!

Thank you so much for taking this journey with me! I appreciate it! It was a fun experience…even though it was a lot of work! I hope you all enjoy your coats!

This tutorial/pattern is copywritten to me. All photos etc. are property of Patti Notestine2011. All rights reserved. If you make coats and sell them all I ask is that you add me as

designer with a link to my shop at www.patricianndesigns.etsy.comMy shop Winter Olive will not be open next year….so please make sure you add the link

above to my new shop to your listings. Thank you!!!

Patti Notestinewww.patricianndesigns.etsy.com

patricianndesigns@live.com

Section Two: Making the coat with a pattern

I have included pattern pieces for the bodice only, because you

don’t need pattern pieces to make the rest of the coat. It is made by measurements, which I give you in the tutorial section.

Bodice: Cut out all your pattern pieces and tape them together as directed on the pieces. When completed you will have 3 total pattern pieces

consisting of : Front Back

Sleeve I gave you a full length sleeve piece just in case you want a full

length sleeve. You can use these pieces for other fabrics as well, if you don’t want to use sweaters.

Instructions:

Cut one of front for right side, then flip and cut one for left side. Cut one of back, remember to place on fold.

Cut 2 sleeves. Use a zig zag st set to the lowest stitch length and use a size 16

needle. With WRONG SIDES TOGETHER…..Stitch fronts to back at

shoulder. Then stitch sides together.

Fold sleeve in half with WRONG SIDES TOGETHER……stitch the seam closed.

Stitch around the wrist area. To sew the sleeve to the bodice, follow the sleeve instructions in

the tutorial. You now have a bodice. Follow the tutorial to make the rest of your

coat.