Make a Coat From a Blanket

 Hello Readers. I found this wool throw blanket at a thrift store and I loved the soft colors. Wool is great for keeping you warm but it's also a natural fabric and it breathes and lets air circulate. I thought it would make a great light-weight jacket for fall.  

This turned out to be a fun plaid jacket. 

 

I wanted multi-colored buttons for my jacket just for fun. I tried to coordinate the colors with the colors of the jacket. Similar buttons here. 

 

I started getting my throw blanket in position for cutting. I made this based off the "Bog Coat" pattern by Matchy Matchy Sew Club but I went off course and followed my own plan. I knew this blanket could be frayed at any edge I cut and that was part of my design plan. I cut the coat and folded the sides in. That made the sleeve and front of the coat. I also cut a belt for the waist from the top of the blanket to start. 

 

The front of the jacket needed to be cut for the neck opening. I cut that opening with my sharp sewing scissors to get a clean cut. Dull scissors will not cut well.

 

I also cut the round neck hole as directed by the pattern. Then I started to deviate from the pattern.

  

I started to fray the front edges of the bodice of the coat. I wanted all the edges to fray like the edges of the blanket were frayed originally. 

 

You can see the frayed edge here. I wanted to use these buttons to close the front of my coat so I planned out where they would go and where the button holes would be. 

 

I sewed the buttons on by hand. 

 

I made my button holes and used my seam ripper to open them up. Similar here. 

  

I attached the belt in 3 places by sewing through the buttons, the belt and the coat itself. This keeps the belt in place but didn't require any extra fabric to make belt loops. I didn't have any extra fabric so this worked for me.  

 

Here is my jacket. It could be long like this but I thought shorter would be better for me. so I went back to work. 

 

I cut about 10 inches off the bottom of my jacket. The fabric I cut off would make a fabulous matching scarf. Did I hem them? No. 

 

I pulled the threads on the edge of the cut fabric and took 6-8 threads out of the weave so that I would have the same frayed look at the hem of the coat and the edges of the scarf. I really liked the little fringed edge of the original blanket and wanted it all over the coat and scarf.

 

My jacket is great for cooler weather but it doesn't weigh me down. It's perfect for early fall. I love it. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.