Next weekend is my Winter Coat Weekend class at Made on Marion – where we’ll get all the tricky bits of a coat done in one weekend (and, depending on your pattern, all of it, done).

This is very much how I made my first coat: two days of mad, happy sewing, learning about bound buttonholes and welt-flap pockets and tailoring wool with the guidance of an expert seamstress.

I’m still really proud of that coat: it was a beautiful thing, black wool, silver lining, fabulous silver & black buttons, bound buttonholes, welt-flap pockets, topstitched collar.  It was a testament to my time and growing knowledge, and to the people who taught me.  It fit well, was super warm and comfortable, and went everywhere and did everything to me.

I wore it in San Francisco winters and NYC spring snowfalls, to rugby games in Wellington, and everywhere in between.  Alas, when I moved to NZ it was too heavy to pack, and I gave it away.  For all I know it may be still out there, keeping someone warm and toasty.

Another alas,because somehow, for all that I wore it constantly, there are very few photographs of it.  In my pre-blogging years I was always behind the camera, not in front of it.  These are the few photos that show bits of it.  Someday I’ll have to make another like it: I still have the pattern.

Hopefully my students over the weekend will love their coat, and get as much use out of it, as I loved mine.  I can’t wait to see what fabric and patterns they have selected!

Watching rugby at the Cake Tin in Wellington, 2003

With a sculptural painting in a gallery in the Bay Area, 2004

Enjoying the spring sunshine, Bay Area, 2004

In Central Park, NYC, 2005