Kelly Anorak

Last week-end, I spent 3 days at Guthrie & Ghani in Birmingham for a sewing outerwear retreat. It was a fab week-end and a fantastic group to work with. We even received a goodie bags with some little treasures and Lauren had organised 2 events for the evening, which was really nice and fun.

I picked the Kelly anorak pattern by Closet Case which I love but always thought would be quite intimidating to try on my own. It was a nice opportunity to try it with some expert guidance from Layla and Lauren. I bought some grey cotton twill for the outside 

and some Liberty for the inside that I quilted over some thinsulate wadding (more in a this post)

I had pre-quilted my lining before the retreat to save some time!
On the first day of the retreat, we cut the pattern, which had a lot of pieces, then the fabric (outside, lining and interfacing), again lots of pieces and finally we got started on the pockets. I know, it doesn't sound like much but the pockets are quite involved actually so they took some time!

The second day was spent building the "body" of the jacket and inserted the zip, with the plackets etc, so again this was quite an involved process. Getting all the pieces in the right place required a lot of concentration!

And on the last day, we added the hood and then the sleeves. I must admit I struggled quite a bit when inserting the sleeves, they had too much ease for the armholes and I kept getting some puckering. Eventually, it worked but took a few tries and a lot of unpicking! I had been a good student and had hand sewn the hem on the Saturday night in my hotel room so I left the retreat with an almost finished coat (only the bias on the inside of the hood/coat junction) was left to be hand sewn. Task I duly completed that evening!

Adding the snaps was quite a challenge too, I didn't enjoy that step much but it gives such a more professional finished look to the coat. I wrecked a few snaps but Lauren helped me to get them on.

Only the body and hood are lined, I didn't line the sleeves at all (I probably couldn't have fitted my arms through if I had!)

I used a contrasting thread to top-stitch to add a little colour. I selected a blue/lavender colour that is also in the Liberty fabric. And although that shows the mistakes or irregular stitching more than a blended colour, I love the overall look of it.

It has turned very cold here already so my Kelly got its first outing at the week-end and I must say I love it!

I loved the sewing retreat and was really pleased to complete the Kelly while I was there. Of the whole group, only one lady didn't make the Kelly but choose another pattern that she managed to complete over 2 days so on the third.... well she cut a different coat! Most people finished or nearly finished their coat while there as well so it was a very good and productive week-end! Oh and of course we shared lots of tips and information about our favorite patterns and designers, best way to make the to-do list grow even longer :-)

One more OPAM for September!

Linking to  Q3 FAL, Wednesday Wait Loss, Midweek Makers,  Let's Bee Social, Needle and Thread Thursday, Whoop Whoop Friday

Celine