Quilted Coat | A Finished Project

I MADE A QUILTED COAT!!! Have you seen quilt coats floating around the internet lately? Oh friends I knew I had to make one too. This one, actually, is my wearable muslin but I think it has graduated to “actual clothes” since I love it so much.

My neighbor told me I was channelling ketchup & mustard vibes and Jason called it a Harry Potter cloak but I’ll forgive them both because this is officially the coziest thing I own.

Fabrics:

So, I knew I wanted to make a quilted coat, but since I wanted to try the pattern out first, I didn’t want to go through the work of making an entire quilt, cutting it up, sewing it back together, and hating the final result. That would have been terrible. So, instead, I scoured Ebay and Facebook Marketplace for a quilt I could use as my wearable muslin.

I knew I wanted to make my muslin out of a quilt because I thought it would behave differently than just a piece of fabric would. There’s layers, and bulk, and puffiness, and I wanted all of that taken into account in the construction. I’m really glad I went this route and I’m actually surprised by how much I love the result. Why am I shocked? Well, I mean, this quilt’s colors wouldn’t have been my first choice for a coat. I did figure that I could always dye it at some point, but now that it is finished I’m fully embracing the Ronald McDonald vibes it gives off.

This quilt was a good candidate for a coat for two reasons. One, it was inexpensive, so I wasn’t out much if this failed. And two, it already had rips and holes, so if I kept it in quilt form, it would have needed quite a bit of repair work.

It was hand quilted, and whoever quilted it actually left all the knots on the front of the quilt. I find this charming. Once I had cut out all of my pieces from the quilt, I zig-zagged all the way around every piece before starting assembly. I didn’t want the puffy quilt to come apart, and I knew that because the pattern I was using didn’t have lining, you’d see the raw edges. This made them a bit neater on the inside and I don’t have to worry about it in the wash. If I had a serger, I would have serged all the edges instead, but a zig-zag works well.

The Quilted Coat:

I used New Look pattern 6585 for this coat, in View B. However, I ended up chopping off 8.5″ off the bottom. The pattern cover shows view B as mid-length, and I’m 5′ 4″, so, maybe the model, who is wearing the full-length view A is extremely tall? Because this fell way past my knees and not in an attractive way.

I also ended up not following the directions for finishing the outer edge. You’re supposed to fold in the raw edge twice and topstitch, but this quilt, with poly batting, is super thick. So, I just folded it over once, top-stitched, and called it a day. At some point I’d like to cover up the raw edge (which is zig-zagged so it won’t fray) with some single-fold binding, but for now, its fine. I basically used this coat as a trial run for working with a quilt and understanding what I’d tweak and change in coat #2.

And as much as I would have loved pockets, I omitted them because the quilt is just so so puffy as is. I think that on my next quilt coat, one that I’ll make from scratch, I’ll be able to add pockets because I’ll be using cotton batting which is much thinner.

I won’t lie, the hood is probably my favorite part. It is a good size and fits nicely. I followed the pattern guide on the back for sizing, and even though the coat is over-sized, it doesn’t feel overly large. I’m glad I stuck with my indicated size on the pattern. I might add a snap or toggle to the front so that I can close the coat, we’ll see how I feel after some use. Overall, this was a super fun make and now I’m itching to make another. I’d love to use my Spyglass pattern on the back and make it to match Riley’s quilt coat. Won’t we be a sight for our neighborhood to see!

Looking for more?

• Quilt Coat Pattern Round-up
• Quilt Sweater
• Toddler Quilt Coat
• Dog Quilt Coat