Karen’s Pixie Pea Coats!
Its great to be back with another blog for Felicity Fabrics and I’m so excited to share these makes with you, as I am so proud and happy with how they have turned out!
So, it’s a double whammy for you today – I have made two coats, one for each of my twins using the Twig and Tale Pixie Pea Coat pattern which is available in sizes 12-18mnths up to 14 yrs, which I think is a fantastic age range. It is also available in adult sizes (I may have bought the pattern for myself too!). There are also some add-on packs available to make the coat into an animal, by adding a tail and ears. Such a fun idea for those into fairy-tales.
This pattern has been classed as a skill level for an adventurous beginner, which I would agree with as it is deceptively easy! Twig and Tale encourage you to use fabrics that you can recycle, for instance an old blanket or duvet cover – the options are endless, but I decided to make mine using this gorgeous soft-shell fabric provided by Felicity Fabrics as I wanted the coats to be able to be worn in wet weather. I was initially only going to make one, but found I could just about squeeze two out of the 1.5m of fabric.
The soft-shell fabric is backed with fleece, so initially I thought I would go ahead and make the coats without lining them, but after a few days of pondering over this, I decided to line them as it gives a cleaner finish and hides all the raw edges. It also means you can turn the cuffs back to see the contrast lining, so you can really play around with your fabric choices. I used a polycotton fabric for the lining that I already had, which originally came from Dunelm UK.
I opted to make a size age 4, even though my twins have just turned 5, because I had heard this coat is quite oversized to give a lot of growing room. I definitely made the right decision as they fit perfectly and there is still lots of room for them, and I’ve still turned the cuffs back as the sleeves were a little on the long side.
The coat comes with options of a collar, a rounded hood or a pixie shaped hood. I chose the standard rounded hood and this is the only bit of the coat that I feel could have been a bit more generous in size, as I don’t think it comes far enough forward to shield from the rain.
The soft-shell fabric was so lovely to work with as it cuts and sews beautifully. It does have a lot of bounce so I found when ironing the seam allowances, they didn’t want to lie flat, especially as the seam allowance is 3/8” for this pattern. I also used a pressing cloth when ironing the soft shell so that it didn’t melt! I decided to topstitch the seam allowances down on the shoulders and the side seams, to make sure there wouldn’t be any bulk and I really like how that looks.
On the front of the coat, you have two button plackets, where you can add buttons and buttonholes, but there is also an option to use fabric loops and buttons instead. However, I chose to go with the easy option of adding Prym colour snaps, as I really like how these look and they are easy to install using the Prym vario pliers. I used a chalk marker to mark out where I wanted the snaps to be positioned and measured equal spaces in-between each one. After finishing the coats, my twins have found it a little difficult to do the snaps up themselves, as you do need to press quite hard on them, so I now wish I’d have added a zip instead. This isn’t in the fastening options and there aren’t any instructions for this, so I would need to do a bit of research as to the best way of doing that, but it’s something I’ll try on a future coat.
I have really enjoyed making these coats and found them to be a very satisfying make. I would highly recommend both the pattern and fabric and think they make the perfect combination for a lightweight jacket that can be worn all year round.
I will be reviewing the coats on my YouTube channel Sew Little Time, if you fancy seeing them in action.
Thank you for reading and Happy Sewing!
