I often hear people in the store say: "I don’t have time"; "with my very busy life, it’s impossible to come to the courses"; or "but how do you manage to sew so many pieces".

My answer - simple as it may seem - is that you have to make an appointment with yourself. 

I made the Namasté coat, a "big" piece like any coat. I wanted to prove that despite a crazy schedule - a "small" work week for me is at least 60 hours - you can find time for what matters to you. It often just takes a mental/psychological trigger to understand that some things or activities matter more to us than others. The covid period, as difficult as it was, taught me a lot about myself and what mattered in my life. 

So follow me in sewing the Namasté coat, step by step. First of all, I present to you this beautiful sewing piece that caught my eye since its release last year!

The Namasté model

Namasté is the pattern for a comfortable and warm coat you want to snuggle into in the middle of winter. From its release last year, I was smitten with this beautiful model. It was its large hood that completely won me over. I also really liked its double fastening and wide belt.

It has welt pockets (which I find more than useful in a coat). 

I think it’s a superb coat to face winter in style! 

Practical information for sewing Namasté

Namasté is a pattern by designer Coralie Bijasson whose well-cut patterns and complete explanatory guides I particularly appreciate. 

Namasté is available from size 34 to 48. These sizes correspond quite well to commercial sizes. 

The printed pattern is available in our online shop and directly in the store. 

The sewing of this coat is rated expert level by Coralie Bijasson. So you need good sewing experience to take on the challenge or be accompanied in your sewing to succeed with the more technical stitches. That is why we offer the evening workshop. 

In the seamstress's basket

All wool fabrics will be perfect for this coat. Think boiled wool, fulled wool, polyester wools (soft and warm), why not a thick gabardine or denim, jacquards for a jacket effect? It is important to choose a fabric weighing at least 350g/m2 and up to 600g/m2.  

To sew your coat, you will need: 
-  fabric: 3.5m up to size 40 and 3.6m up to size 48 
- lining 1.7m up to size 48
- 20mm buttons (4 for fastening and 1 spare)

- fusible interfacing suitable for your fabric

My supplies

I was very influenced by the pretty biscuit-colored coat in Coralie Bijasson's photos. Also, I have an autumnal color profile... so when my supplier showed me a beautiful wool fabric in this color, I fell for it. 

I would have preferred to sew the coat in 100% wool, but this polyester wool fabric was so soft, warm, and the perfect color that I completely fell for it. 

For coats, a lining that "slides" is always recommended to pass the arms through the sleeves. I didn't really want to use this type of plain lining but to add color and fun to my coat. So I chose a Japanese cotton lawn which has the advantage of being soft, with pretty patterns, and it slides (not as much as a lining but enough for the purpose). 

I chose to mark the lining/facing separation by adding a pretty yellow piping that matched the color of the flowers on my lining. It's a small vintage piping from my personal stash; I had just the right length left! 

Finally, I also chose 4 large buttons from my personal stash for the front buttoning. I also used 4 small buttons that I sew behind the first ones; this helps to reinforce the anchoring of my buttons. 

I also used a quick hem tape for heavy fabrics for the hem. 

Technical points

Sewing a coat requires a good level of sewing skill. Indeed, not only does the coat include technical points that we will see, but these technical points must be done on a thick fabric. This also means you need a good sewing machine with a strong motor that can smoothly handle the different thicknesses. 

The technical points from Namasté are:

- making the piped pockets
- making the clips
- making the hood
- attaching the hood to the body
- making the sleeves (body and lining)
- sewing the outer body, facing, and lining
- sewing the sleeve lining and sleeves
- the buttonholes
- managing the hems
- sewing the buttons

My sewing experience

I loved sewing this long-term project (my students were able to follow the progress of my coat week by week on Gisèle, my dress form).

Here is the breakdown of the steps in creating my coat. As you will see, there were many with short working times, but as they say, "to eat an elephant, you eat it little by little...". I started working on the coat from Tuesday 5/9 and finished it this Thursday 26/10 just in time to leave for the RTBF interview... phew!

Tuesday 9/5: choosing the size and tracing the pattern pieces (1h30)
Wednesday 9/6: cutting paper pieces (30 minutes)
Thursday 9/7: cutting pieces in the toile (30 minutes)
Friday 9/8: sashiko called, I couldn’t resist...
Saturday 9/9: courses all day: no sewing for me
Sunday 9/10: assembling the toile and testing (1h45) - I raised the pockets by 1cm and made them bigger. 

I worked on other projects Monday and Tuesday but chose the coat fabric on Monday 😊
Wednesday 9/13: testing piped pocket on the toile (30min)
Thursday 9/14: cutting the coat pieces (45min)
Friday 9/15: cutting the lining pieces (30min)
Saturday 9/16: sewing the clips, sewing the sleeve pieces for body and lining (30min)

Right after, I caught a cold and didn’t sew on top of my already busy work (shop and teaching) for 15 days 🥲 and other ongoing projects: the pretty bag panels we had received, the tutorial is actually here and a pair of jeans to support my students during the jeans module... We don’t get discouraged and keep going!

Tuesday 10/10: I picked it back up! I sewed the belt and the loops (30min)
Thursday 10/12: I started the piped pockets (40min)
Friday 10/13: I finished the pockets (1h)

Tuesday 10/17: I assembled the hood (45min)
Thursday 10/19: I assembled the body, the lining, added the piping, and joined the lining with the facing (3h)
Tuesday 10/24: I assembled the sleeves of the body and lining (1h)
Thursday 10/26: I finished! I assembled the body and the lining. I sewed the sleeve edges, made the hems, and finally tackled the buttonholes (3h)

I put on my coat and ran off to RTBF, super proud in my beautiful handmade coat! 

What an adventure!

I love my coat and I loved sewing it. Plus, every week my students boosted me with "oh, it’s going to be magnificent," "oh, that’s great"... in short, confidence and motivation to keep going were at their peak! A big thank you to everyone, by the way 😊

To finish this article, I wanted to tell you—without playing the cheap psychologist or moralizer—that we are often capable of much more than we think, despite our busy lives. You have to find a balance that fills your life with important things that matter to you. 

Sewing feeds me (literally today) and I think it will nourish me my whole life because it gives me a lot of self-confidence, personal satisfaction, sharing, joy... in short, take care of yourself and listen to your creative needs! 

On that positive note,

Get your needles ready!