Last summer, I was in France and spent time in my family's house in the Alps one last time (it's being sold).
While I went around the house to "stage" it for visitors, I stumbled upon a colorful blanket and immediately knew I had to bring it back to my parents'.
Then, the Blanket St8ment Coat Pattern popped up on my Tik-Tok feed and it all clicked.
Before my next visit, I bought the printed version of the pattern because I didn't want to research printing options in my area (it seems you can have it printed through this service).
And then, my mom and I (but mostly my mom, let's be honest) got to work.
The directions to make the coat are pretty much non-existent. A link leads to a Tik-Tok video that gives a general idea of how to go about it, but is not practical to reference.
I honestly would have loved to have had access to written instructions... Wink, wink!
So here's how my mom (and I) proceeded:
Material
- A thick blanket: the bigger, the better (but a queen size should work)
- Heavy-duty fabric scissors
- Long sewing pins (to test out sleeve placement and length)
- Embroidery needles
- Embroidery floss
(you can double it to make it thicker) or use thick yarn, thread or string in a contrasting color (it doesn't need to be waxed)
Techniques
The whole coat can be hand stiched, all you need is the material listed above.
The idea is to choose a stitch length and height (using the same length and height seens to be pleasing to the eye) and try to stick to these measurements for aesthetic purposes.
Instructions
- Print the pattern.
- Cut the pattern.
- Lay it out on your blanket to figure out where to cut each piece and make sure the front and back pattern match, and eventually the sleeves.
We decided to cut the pockets out of a more lightweight fabric and use a sewing machine to sew them together in order to be able to carry smaller objects that might have slipped through the blanket stitches.
- Cut the pieces.
- Stitch the shoulder seams.
- Stitch the side seams and don't forget to add the front of the pocket to the front panel and the back of the pocket to the back panel.
- Stitch the front and back of the pocket together.
- Stitch the collar, the front, and the bottom of the coat.
- Stitch the bottom seam of the sleeves, sew the darts, and stitch the cuff to the sleeves.
- Stitch the sleeves to the coat.
- Cut 2 slits in the coat for the belt, and stitch the opening to reinforce it.
- Stitch the belt, and place it into the slits.
- I secured the belt with an invisible stitch in the middle of the back of the coat so I don't lose it when I'm wearing the coat open.
I know the result looks totally insane, but it is SO me. I've always loved ridiculous pieces (does anyone remember my cow print clogs in high school?). And I'm happy to have a little piece of my family's history to wrap myself in.
It wasn't a precious blanket, it wasn't handmade, and it didn't have much history besides the fact that generations of us kids slept under it while spending our winter or summer vacation in our great-great grandparents' house in the mountains.
PS: This Reddit post made me laugh out loud!
I still have a little fabric left and am debating making a tote bag, a bucket hat, or mittens. What would you make?