Nautical inspired JBJ coat

First creation of 2016! Last year – I skipped my yearly Talea coat rendition. This year, I really wanted a toggle coat like this:

The original idea was to use Grainline Studio’s cascade duffle coat pattern, but after much debate I decided that using a TNT pattern is the safer route to go – I dont have much time to play with the fitting of a new pattern these days and Cascade looks like it would need some adjustment for a person with curve. So I merged the front and front side pattern of Talea, and another rendition of Talea coat is born!

Oversized hoodie, as usual. I love the little button poking out.

I really cant get over how awesome that shoulder flap thingy looks with the hoodie. in this picture I look like I am wearing armor! I made sure the arm part of the flap curves with the arm hole. It looks just as awesome in person as it does on the photo

Those oversized toggle & rope is one of my favorite buttons on coats so far. It makes me happy every time I need to button up. I was debating on using an actual shell from a bullet, but decided that I dont want to play with gun powder/lead too much.

Real leather for pocket and toggle button patch. They are a pain to sew on. I lined the toggle patches against the dart on the bust – worked out very well.

My awesome logo on the hoodie. A friend visited wearing a lulumelon jacket – with a logo on top. I decided to copy it and i love how it turned out!

The inside is lined with a playful poka dot polyester slippery material, and more logo-ing as well.

I wanted to put a tab on the back – but now I am digging this clean vertical lines on the back and also sick of working with this fabric. I think I will keep this as is.

While I love how the coat turned out, I didnt enjoy sewing this coat as much I did with my previous coat. I think its because the material is a little funny. It is a wool with a rubbery, water-proof backing. But the wool feels very thin and the rubber feels thick. So the material is actually a little stretch-prone. The top stitches also sinks in quite a bit since its squishy. It feels like this coat will not last as long as my other makes – at which point I would have to remake one because I love it too much!

We took the kids to halfmoon bay over the weekend. The weather was gorgeous, I always enjoy the California coast in the winter on a sunny day. All the fun and no need to fuss with sun block. Little A is quite something when she gets to the water. A few minutes after the above photo, she was literally waist deep in a tide pool. Crazy little spirit 🙂