Now that I’ve taken the photos of Simplicity 8302 I feel like a spy.

We have relatively mild Winters. Well it does get cold here and having a bright coat simply makes sense to feel less sad when it’s cold.

Simplicity 8302 has enough patterns to create a capsule wardrobe. In my case, I think I’ve started this process with a bright coat layer.

The lovely thing about this approach is I now have many colours I can choose from for the remaining wardrobe pieces. A print like this can uplift any wardrobe if these are the colours you love.

I love the print. It looks like these are pea plants and tropical leaves. What I couldn’t find at the time were great buttons to use on this coat. I’ve used buttons that are the size I need but not quite the buttons that really pop on this coat.

While I was sewing with this fabric, because it’s a poly blend I didn’t feel the pressure to sew every seam perfectly. I knew there was less stress to unpick the mistakes I make on every project.

Yes I’ve sewn most of my life and I know I will always make mistakes. My unpicker is my friend for every project.

The welt pocket is built into the seam so if you’re knew to sewing welt pockets, this is a great pattern to work on. You’ll learn so much as you go.

The other thing I like about this pattern is there are many indicators on the pattern pieces for you to adjust the proportions of the coat. The sleeve length was fine for me but I did need to shorten the coat; do a sway back adjustment and forward shoulder adjustments. I was able to do these by initially checking the finished measurements and changed the pattern pieces to suit my body.

Once you know how to make your pattern adjustments to suit your body, you repeat them again and again.

I hope you enjoy working with this fabric and pattern.

Post script: I quickly visited All Buttons Great and Small at Newtown this week to get their ideas about the buttons for this coat. The lovely store assistant gave me her honest opinion. The coat fabric is what makes it work. The buttons wouldn’t really make much difference.

We both agreed that this print is plenty to make this coat worth keeping and wearing.

Oh and I did visit The Fabric Store at its new Newtown location across the road from All Buttons as well. This part of Newtown is going to be the place for sewists. Don’t forget Drapers Fabrics is just on the other side of the train station too.