A woven version of The Tie Front Cardigan Coat

When I was designing The Tie Front Cardigan Coat, I specifically had boiled wool in mind. It is the perfect easy to sew fabric, and when it has viscose in the blend, a great drape for this type of garment. However I did wonder how this style would interpret in a woven fabric although I was unsure how the tie neck would work in a fabric without the ‘give’ of boiled wool.

I had this interesting woven fabric, purchased at a very keen price from a market, so I thought I would try it out. The fabric is rigid and fairly rough, probably intended for interiors rather than fashion. It reminds me of a Japanese style of fabric especially in this intense blue with white running through the weave. It also has a pretty fringed selvedge that I used for the front edges and the tie ends.

I lengthened the front and back pattern pieces by 20cm – 4cm for the hem and 16cm to the finished garment length. I also added 4cm to the sleeves for the cuff hem. I chose the in-seam pockets and I decided to line the coat: the main body and sleeves but not the tie.

I made up the coat as shown in the instructions, except for stitching down the folded front edge or the folded tie edge around the neckline.

I made the lining up separately and placed the wrong side to the inside of the coat. I tucked the lining behind the folded front edge, snipped the point near the tie and tucked the lining at the neck up inside the neck tie.

I then tacked the tie in place and stitched through the neck seam from the right side to secure.

Then removed the tacking stitches.

At the hem I had overlocked the bottom edge, so simply turned up the hem by 4cm and pressed, then mitred the corner where the hem meets the folded front edge. I tucked the lining behind both and stitched in place. For the sleeve cuffs I turned up the outer cuff by 4cm, tucked the lining behind as I had with the hem and stitched in place.

The finished garment is interesting.

The rigidity of the fabric means the tie looks best with one side placed over the other rather than trying to tie it.

This reinforces the Japanese feel as it is reminiscent of a kimono.