Sewing with Wool Fabric, A Lovely New Sapporo Coat

So, I saw this wool on Farmhouse Fabrics’ Instagram feed and immediately fell in love. I’ve been really into muted light blues this year, this one is the color of my dreams. When it arrived at my house it became clear that the color isn’t even the best part of this fabric-its the way it feels. It feels like a fluffy cloud. It’s 100% Italian wool and thinner than I anticipated-which helps make it hang so well! If I could, I would send a piece of this wool to everyone reading this post. It is scrumptious!

Sewing with wool proved to be a piece of cake! I made no adjustments to my normal sewing. It felt like sewing with butter. It was absolutely marvelous. If you’ve been intimidated by wool in the past (like me) don’t be! Its so fun to sew with. I did prewash my wool, mainly so that I could wash it in the future. If you don’t prewash it, it will likely be a dry-clean only garment. I paired the beautiful heathery blue wool with this Liberty of London cotton tana lawn, large floral fabric for the lining…ya’ll this coat feels like ammmmazing.

I’ve been eyeing up this Papercut Patterns Sapporo Coat for quite a while. I’ve read some extremely good reviews and one-not-so good review. The one negative review really made me nervous but I decided to take the plunge and give it a go. I’m SO glad I did because this pattern is very well-made, the directions are incredibly clear, and the order of the steps is spot on. I can’t sing this pattern’s praises enough. In fact, I’m writing this post in hopes that I cancel out the negative review I read. I’m already ready to make another.

I will say that this was my first time adding a lining to a coat with a mitered-cornered hem. Honestly, I’m not even certain that’s the correct vocabulary to describe it. Having never done a mitered corner this was a bit tricky for me. I found a Youtube tutorial on how to do it-it helped tremendously. I love the how clean it makes the corner. I think I may do it on some of Maria’s dresses in the future. particularly the ones that button up the front. There is one in her near future, I’ll try it on that and report back!

Anyway, take-aways from this rambling post:

• If you sew for kids already and would like to try something for yourself, this would be a great pattern to try.
• A hem with mitered corners for a front button dress would definitely help it look neater. Trying this in the future for sure.
• Try sewing with wool! It is so fun!

Happy Sewing Y’all!