I made Chloe and I matching coats.
Ok, so I know that I say that EVERY thing that I make is my favorite, but seriously. Is this not the cutest thing that you’ve seen on the internet all day? If not, I’m sure that it’s close competition.
Pretty sure that matching outfits is crossing over into that next level of “crazy dog mom”, but ashamed, I am not! Chloe did not seem nearly as excited about our matching ensembles, but she humored me for a few pictures as long as treats were generously distributed.
As for the name, houndstooth and capes always remind me of the early depictions of Sherlock Holmes. So I shall call this set “Sherlock and Watson”.
For those of you who are actually here for a pattern review and not just to see cute pictures of my dog, for my cape I use McCall’s m8029. This pattern is a lose fitting, unlined cape with raw edges. I have a lot of feelings about this pattern….it SHOULD have been an easy sew, but I needed to make several modifications to get it looking how I wanted. My choice of fabric also made this a slightly more complicated project than it should have been.
For the fabric, I used a lovely wool blend woven houndstooth. Unfortunately, the fabric was very loosely woven. The pattern suggests using fabrics such a fleece that don’t fray and are much easier to work with. The fabric that I chose started to fray and unravel almost as soon as I cut into it. This wouldn’t have been a big deal if I had a serger to prevent this from happening as I worked with it, but since didn’t, I did the best that I could with a zig zag stitch along the edges.
As for modifications to the pattern, I knew before I cut the pattern out that I did not want to leave the edges of the fabric exposed as the pattern recommended. I’m not a fan of exposed edges. I like a more cleaned finish look. So, I finished all of the edges and fully lined the cape. As I mentioned before, the fabric that I used frayed a lot and it would have looked terrible leaving the jacket unlined. Also, I don’t know where the rest of you live, but here in the Midwest of the USA, it gets VERY cold in the wintertime and I wanted to be cute and warm. The lining definitely helped to add an extra layer of warmth here. I also feel that lining the cape and finishing the edges elevated the look of this. Because I lined the jacket, I also had to finish off the belt loop holes by hand.
*Note* If you are going to line the cape, you do not need to cut out piece #4.
All in all, if you make this pattern exactly as the directions state and you use a fabric that does not fray(as the pattern recommends), then I would consider this a good beginner project for those wanting to dip their toes into outerwear clothing construction. There is an excellent tutorial done by Elin Estelle on YouTube that was much more clear than the written directions that came with the pattern. You can find that video https://youtu.be/LJR3Y86to8Y.
𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞: “Sherlock and Watson”
𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧: McCalls M8029 (Cape)
𝐅𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐜: Wool Blend Woven Houndstooth from Fabric.com
𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: Finished all raw edges, added a full lining.
𝐒𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐲: 2/4🧵
For Chloe’s coat, I used Kwik Sew K4285 as my base pattern and made several modifications. I eliminated the strap that goes around the whole body and shortened it to fast with elastic under her belly. I also added a collar and brought the neckline up a bit to shield her neck against the wind more. For extra warmth, I lined her coat with a polar fleece and added some fleece along the front of the coat. Finally, I re-drafted it to cover a little more of the side of her body. For the outer fabric of her coat, I used the same wool that I used for my cape. This was my first time using a pattern for dog clothing, and I would say that dog patterns are VERY generally sized and you should plan on having to make some sort of alterations to fit your furry friend the best. I ended up making Chloe the xxl-3x size, which was the 2nd largest size. She’s not a very big dog, only around 30 pounds. So if you have a much larger dog, this may not be the best pattern.
As is, Kwik Sew K4285 is a very easy pattern and I would recommend it as a great starter dog coat pattern.
𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞: “Sherlock and Watson”
𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧: Kwik Sew k4285 (dog coat)
𝐅𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐜: Wool Blend Woven Houndstooth from Fabric.com, black polar fleece from Joann Fabrics.
𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬: Lined coat with fleece, extended neckline and added collar, replaced strap that goes all the way around the body with a shorter belly strap. Added color blocking at the front of coat. Extended sides of coat to cover more of Chloe’s body.
𝐒𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐲: 1/4🧵
