Floral Trench Coat (part 1): gathering supplies

Alright I'm locked in to doing this floral trench coat. I pulled this project from my 'Garment Grab Bag' a couple of weeks ago and have started to get all the supplies together. This is also an entry on my 2025 Make Nine grid.

I've been wanting a floral trench coat for a while after stumbling across some images on Pinterest. 

 

The second trench coat on the right has fabric that I know I saw on Mood. One day it was in my wishlist and then it was gone. I don't remember it being low on yardage and it wasn't a closeout. I was this 👉👈 close to buying it when it disappeared.

 

The first coat is from Burberry and the one from which I'm drawing the most inspiration. I searched for a while for a similar print, but couldn't find one. I also like the lighter coat with roses, but decided to go with dark fabric instead.

Fabric

 

 

The fabric is stretch cotton sateen from Mood and weighs 190 grams per square metre. It's a little on the light side for a coat, but with the interfacing and lining, I think the weight will be fine. The fabric I used for the first trench coat I made wasn't too heavy either, so I should be fine.

 

Lining

 

I'm still deciding on what lining to use. My eyes are drawn to pieces 4, 5, and 6 (flannel backed satins), but I think they would be too heavy for the coat. Pieces 3 and 2 are rayon Bemberg linings and a bit too light. 

 

Piece 1 is the perfect weight. It's a nice rayon satin that's heavier than Bemberg, but lighter than the flannel back satins. The problem is the color; it matches perfectly with the flowers, but it may be too dark overall. I'll keep searching for more lining. If I can't find what I'm looking for, the green will work.

 

Supplies

This picture shows some of the supplies I intend to use in making the coat (left to right):

• potential green lining
  
• off white piping to go between the lining and facings
• 1/8" cord and darker bias tape to make piping if I don't like the lighter color
• 3" x 11" bias-cut fleece for sleeve heads
• 2" interfacing for sleeve and back panel hems
  
• black buttons in two sizes for the front, front flap, epaulettes, sleeve tabs, and belt tabs
• scrap of muslin for back stay
• weft interfacing for facings, front, and side front panels

I'll probably construct the coat on both my semi-industrial and commercial sewing machines and finish the edges on my serger. For the shell, I'll use black thread for seaming and topstitching. 

 

I might be forgetting some supplies right now. I'll gather more as I need them.

 

Next up:  cutting out the main garment pieces, marking notches/important points, and fusing interfacing. I will try to remember to document this process as I go along.

 

Thanks for reading. 😊

L