I love cold weather. I love coats. I have made myself a new coat or jacket almost every year for the past several years, but I can’t quite say that I’ve been 100% satisfied with any of them. I’ve enjoyed making them, I’ve enjoyed wearing them around, but I always knew at the back of my head that they could be better. That I could do better. Better by pattern choice, better by more fitting, better by choice of linings or fastenings, or really better with construction techniques (yes, I have pretty much just said all the coats were garbage attempts at perfection).

It’s not that any were bad coats, they just weren’t the one.

So when By Hand London came out with the Rumana Coat pattern… I swooned. The long sleek lined winter coat with princess seams, welt pockets, and perfectly notched collar? It was a pattern so amazing I knew I would have to go above and beyond my normal efforts to do it justice.

That was my start, finding the best pattern to jump off with….

Next came the inevitable need to source the perfect fabrics and notions, but beyond that I knew I needed to up my research on actual coat making techniques to make this coat something really worthy. Oh, and had to decide on which changes had to be made to make the coat an additional step or two better.

For something so amazing I knew I had to buy the best wool I could afford so of course I went slightly over budget in order to work with some supremely luscious Pendelton Woolen Mills EcoWise fabric. Thinner then their classic Melton Wool, EcoWise seems a little flimsier at first glance but has such wonderful drape and movement that I couldn’t help but imagine how it would move with the nice long lines of the Rumana. I managed to pick it up in September during their sale month so the price wasn’t as crazy as it could have been. While I dithered awhile on possibly using an ice blue wool, my fear of stains and how it would wear over time lead to me to the more predictable path of a deep navy blue.

Once I had picked up the wool, I sat back and had to really think about what I was doing.

(Shout out to my Hudson Duffle Coat - Colette Patterns, seen above sewn 2015)