How to Make a Winter Coat

Winter coats are often more challenging to sew than other types of clothing, since they tend to have lots of pieces, and the thicker layers of fabric can be difficult to work with. However, winter coats such as fleece coats, wool pea coats and trench coats are reasonably easy to sew. For advanced winter coats such as parkas, you may have to look online or in specialty fabric stores to find the patterns and materials you need.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Coat pattern
• Fabric
• Lining fabric (optional)
• Matching thread
• Buttons or zipper
• Interfacing (optional)
• Scissors
• Iron
• Ironing board
• Straight pins
• Sewing machine

1. Choose a winter coat pattern you like that has all the features you need, such as a hood or pockets. Be sure to pick a pattern that matches your sewing skills. Some winter coats, such as fleece ponchos, are extremely easy to sew, while patterns that require cuffs, collars, linings and zippers will be more challenging.

2. Buy fabric for the winter coat, using the guidelines on the pattern envelope to figure out how much fabric you need and what type to use. Polar fleece, wool and even corduroy can work well for pea coats, while trench coats can be made from poly-blends or durable fabrics such as gabardine. Winter coats like parkas often have a waterproof fabric for the outside, such as nylon.

3. Buy fabric for the lining of the coat, if needed. Fleece coats don’t usually need a lining since they’re already thick, while winter coats such as parkas often have a layer of insulation and a nylon lining.

4. Pick out thread that matches the fabric, as well as any other needed materials listed on the pattern envelope, such as buttons, a zipper or interfacing. Winter coats such as pea coats and parkas tend to use one or two rows or large buttons, while winter coats like parkas often use zippers. Some coats, such as fleece pullovers, use only a short zipper at the top, while parkas need a separating zipper that can open at the bottom.

5. Cut out the pattern pieces for the coat, using the cutting line for the size you need. You may want to make the coat a size bigger than your other clothing, so that it will easily fit over other layers of cold weather clothing.

6. Smooth out the patterns. You may want to iron them with a cool (low-temperature) iron to get out the all the wrinkles.

7. Follow the cutting guide in the pattern directions to pin the patterns to the fabric and cut out the pieces. If the winter coat pattern has several different variations (such as an optional hood or pockets, or several collar choices), make to sure to cut only the pieces you need.

8. Follow the directions that came with the pattern to sew the pieces of the coat together.

Tips & Warnings

• There are many styles of winter coats. Be sure to choose a coat pattern that matches your style and your sewing skill level.
• Use caution when working with scissors, pins, irons and sewing machines.

Resources

• Here are a few free coat patterns.