• Pattern: Luzerne coat from Deer & Doe
• Fabric: Beige garberchino fabric from Minerva Crafts

This summer has been a huge summer for my big sister. She turned 30 years, she finished medical school and right away got an internship at the hospital nearest home as she wanted. I’m not surprised because she is incredibly smart and talented! So I needed to give her something special, but what would that be? She has already wished that the whole family take a trip together to Gdansk, for cheap food and shopping. Yes, it is our second trip there this year, but I can’t complain. I love the city and last time was just a girls trip, this time the guys got to tag along as well.

Back to the gift I made her, I think you’ve figured it out by now that I made her the Luzerne trench coat for her birthday. She has for a very long time wanted the classic trench coat from Burberry. Burberry, as you might know, is not a cheap brand, and I certainly can not afford something like that. Since I already had the Luzerne pattern that I was going to make for myself I figured I could make one for my sister as a muslin to test out all the details. She is gifted that her body is one size all the way so it is very easy to sew for her.

Luckily for me, she liked it very much! The fit is great on her as well. For her, I cut out a straight size 36, and as you can see, it fits her perfectly. She is so photogenic as well. Me, I need about a hundred pictures to have five usable good ones.

There are also so many beautiful details in this pattern as well. First of all, oh my goodness, I love how huge the pockets are! The welted buttonholes was a pain, but I can see why they are there instead of a regular buttonhole, it gives it a more expensive and classic look than regular buttonholes. The sleeve tabs and belt loop in the back with the buttons give it a nice touch. The two piece sleeve gives the arm more movement, especially around the elbow.

The only stupid, stupid, thing I manage to do with this coat was to order too little of the beige tartan bias binding. Since the coat is entirely finished with bias binding on the inside I didn’t look at how much I needed and ordered only five meters of the tartan. I didn’t notice it before I started to sew it.  There was no time for me to order more in time to make the coat before I was going on that trip so I used plain white bias binding I had in my stash, using the tartan only on the larger places.

Oh well, the importan thing about this was that she loved the coat and it fitted her so well. I really hope she uses it as much as she can before it gets too cold to wear it anymore this season.

Sophie Bach Meuche