Closet Core Kelly - Finally.

Well hello there. Remember me?

Feels like an age since I was last on here but in reality only a few weeks! I've been on Insta if you follow me on there. 

I've not done a huge amount of sewing these last couple of month but what I have done is FINALLY FINISH my Kelly Anorak. This has been 2 years in the making!! Well - it was probably put in the UFO pile for most of that time but here she is in all her completed glory. 

 Hands down the most complicated bit of sewing I have done. So many bells and whistles on this one. Zips, snaps, plackets, drawstring, flat-felled seams...you name it, it's probably got it.

The fabric I chose is a. Fleece Back Softshell and b. Can be seen from space. 

A safety jacket if you will. 

The best bit about Softshell is that it's water resistant, great for a coat, but also doesn't need lining because of the fuzzy fleece on the reverse.I struggled to find non-plain softshell and settled for this bright paint splatter one from Minerva. The rose gold findings are from the Trimming Shop and neon zip was Etsy.

It's quite thick and dense so a microtex needle and a walking foot are a must.

I cut this out and starting sewing it in 2021 at a sewing class. I had messed up the placket about 3 times and had to recut and unpick everything repeatedly, by which time class had finished and it was put in a bag to 'finish at home later'. That clearly never happened. 

After a big ol' sewing room clear out recently I found the bag and decided it was about time Kelly should get made up. After bodging up the placket a further 2 times (I still have no idea what I did wrong but it was too short to reach across the zip) it worked! Not exactly how it was designed but it works.

After getting over the placket hurdle the rest of the coat was fairly smooth sailing by using the Kelly Anorak Sew Along.

I had apparently cut a Size 16/18 and 2 years later god only knows if that was going to fit but I powered through. It's actually a really nice fit however I can't get a knit jumper under there. Just a t-shirt or very thin sweater.

The only adjustment I made was for the pockets. I didn't like the open nature of the ones on the pattern so made myself some square patch pockets that could be fastened with a snapper.

The marvelous thing about the Kelly Anorak is that all seams are enclosed and looks fantastic without any raw edges showing.  The neckline and armholes are bound with bias binding for a nice clean finish. The rest are either enclosed in seams or flat-felled.

The fun part was putting in all the S-Spring snaps. I have a 'Big Green Machine' and it makes short work of snaps and fastenings. About 5 minutes to do the lot!

I finished off the jacket with the only label that would possibly be suitable. 'This Took Forever' by Sew Anonymous.

Definitely worth hopping back on the blog for this mini-win.

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