Dresden Plate Quilt Coat

Welcome to my stop on Island Batik's Dresden Plate blog hop. I was sent the Turtle Cove collection, designed by Kathy Engle as a signature collection for Kari Nichols of Quilting Renditions.  I was tasked with using Turtle Cove and Dresden Plate to make a quilt lap size or larger.  Except the more I thought about it, the more I didn't want to make a quilt!

We all know that Quilt Coats have been quite the rage for several years now.  I've been interested, but garment sewing and quilting are very different skills and I've always been nervous about messing up a quilt coat.  I talked to someone at QuiltCon in February about her quilt coat; she said the Hovea quilt pattern was constructed a lot like a quilt.  So, knowing I had the lovely blues and greens of Turtle Cove to work with, I decided to take the plunge!

My first task was to figure out a layout that would get me several Dresdens on the back of the coat.  I played around with several layouts in EQ8 and finally decided that I liked full Dresdens flanked by half Dresdens.  I also liked the idea of dividing these by color.  I already owned a Dresden ruler by Darlene Zimmerman.  What I like about this ruler is that I can use it to make a wide variety of sizes.  I experimented and found that cutting 2 1/2" strips would get me a a finished Dresden that would allow three Dresdens down the back of the coat.  

 

You may have guessed that the Turtle Cove collection features several fabrics with turtles.  I fussy cut a few turtles to go in the center of my Dresden Plates.  I sewed my Dresden blades with a small zigzag using Aurifil invisible thread.  For the center, I wanted more of a visible line of stitching so I used a satin stitch with color 2784 Dark Navy.  I did the same thing with the green half Dresdens, using invisible thread for the blades and Dark Navy for the center.  I find Elmer's disappearing glue sticks to be really useful in many sewing projects.  I used them to secure the Dresden blades and centers down until I could stitch them down.  It dries quickly and there is no stickiness -- my Schmetz Needles had no difficulty with any of the stitching.

 

  Items used in this project were provided to me by Island Batik, Hobbs, Schmetz, Aurifil, and Oliso.

One of the features that I love about the Hovea jacket is that it has HUGE pockets.  I knew those pockets were another great place to use Dresden Plate blocks.  Because the pockets are so large, I could use much bigger Dresdens than what's on the back.  I cut 5 1/2" strips for the pocket Dresden Plates and fussy-cut more turtles for the centers. I have to say, those big Dresden Plates are my favorite part of the coat!  

When I finished the coat and put it on, my son (age 11) said, "Those pockets are so big! You could have another baby and carry it in your pocket like a kangaroo!"  He's not wrong!  We decided a stuffed animal was a better plan, though.
 

We didn't have a kangaroo, but a sloth in the pocket is good too!

I used 17 of the fabrics from Turtle Cove in this jacket, plus the neutral Rice from Island Batik's Basics collection.  The lining fabric is from the collection.  I wanted to pre-wash my sections before cutting so that any shrinkage would happen before the jacket was assembled.  I created quilt sandwiches for each area, layering my top with Hobbs Wool batting, and quilted each section with a 2" cross-hatch using Aurifil #2710 Light Robins Egg.  The light blue of the thread blends beautifully on the slightly blue-tinged Rice fabric.  Then I washed my sections, pressed them with my Oliso iron, and was ready to cut my pieces.

The pattern I used is the Hovea Curve Jacket by Megan Nielsen patterns.  (Note that there are two Hovea patterns: the standard pattern for sizes 0-20 and the Curve pattern for sizes 14-34.)  The Hovea jacket has a lot of options: there are 3 different lengths, and you can make it as a quilted jacket or lined or unlined coat with a collar band.  There are also ties or a belt.  I chose the middle length, quilted, and no ties or belt. It's a pdf pattern with lots of way to print, including ready for a large format printer.  I have access to a large format printer at work, so this saved me the work of taping a whole lot of pieces of paper together.  It's not a lot of pieces and it goes together fairly straightforward.  It took me a bit to understand how the binding was supposed to be ironed/folded, but I understood eventually and it wasn't hard to do.  As a garment, I was happy with the assembly process.

Except.  It's hard to get a fit right, especially if you aren't a garment sewer and don't know how to make changes.  I am a busty woman.  I looked at the measurement chart and chose the size that correlates to my bust measurement, but that meant being 2 sizes above the size that correlates to the rest of my measurements.  So when I first put it together, there was a ton of extra fabric in the arm area, so that it was super boxy and looked awful.  I knew I needed to take out fabric in the sleeves, but I didn't know how to do that and still have the sleeves fit the armholes.  I ended up taking it to an alternations person.  She was able to take some of the extra out, though it is still unnecessarily boxy in the top.  It's supposed to be drop shoulder, but mine is really low on the shoulder (and was even lower before the alterations were done.) I was excited about making more quilt coats but unless I can find someone who can help me create a version of the pattern for my body, I won't repeat this.  And I think I'll have the same problem with other quilt coat patterns.  So while I'm satisfied with this coat and will wear it, I wish I could make one that fits better.

But for a first attempt a fully sewn-by-me garment, it's great!  I'm really happy with how the pattern shows off the Dresden plate blocks on the back and the big Dresden plates on the pockets.

Be sure to visit Carol of StitchWithColor to see what she made with Turtle Cove!