sixty minute coat.
Last Thursday we went to Harrogate flower show for the day and I bought a shawl (it’s definitely wool mix rather than wool, but the pattern is nice) for £25.
I don’t need another shawl or scarfy thing though, and I spent ages playing with the ones on the stall, trying to work out if I could do what I wanted with it. Then twice as long chosing which colour to get because there were many pretty colours.
I got home and spent an hour cutting and sewing, and ended up with this
It’s a basic kimono cut, and I used the selvedges rather than faffing around with hems (they hang better anyway)hence why it only took an hour from start to finish – although it could do with a run over to snip of stray threads and tatty edges, which I might get round to later today. I used the reversible nature of the shawl for collar and pockets.
all I had left were these bits, pretty much the tailor of gloucester’s “tippets for mice”
It was a shawl measuring approximately 38 x80 inches, in case you’re wondering. I wore it all weekend and it was perfect for the kind of coldish spring day when you don’t actaully want a big coat.
opusanglicanum 
The coat/jacket is a great success. As you say, weather at the moment doesn’t always demand a Big Coat, but an extra layer is useful to have!
Branston and Trubble seem to have very definite ideas about where they stand in the pecking order…
unfortunately they don’t have the same ideas as gareth
I’m fascinated by that jacket. Did it come with those lovely tassels, or did you add them afterwards? They are making it a challenge for me to imagine how you cut the shawl to get your pieces.
they’re the tassels it came with. basically I folded the shawl in half lengthways and cut off a narrow strip at the fold, then cut that in two for the sleeves. the two remaining squares (with tassels) became the front and back panels, and the bits I had to trim off the edges of those squares because they were too wide, became the collar and pockets
Looks fantastic