I’ve been dreaming of making a yellow raincoat for the longest time. The pattern and fabric has changed again and again but I finally settled on my options! Most of my decision making happened by accident – I came across the most perfect of raincoat fabrics whilst visiting Fabworks Mill in Yorkshire (I happened to be holidaying close by!).

In their outerwear section I found a roll of this gorgeous yellow fabric. It feels like cotton on the outside which has been treated/ bonded though I can’t say for sure what it’s composition is! The salesperson at the shop said it was from an ex designer line but didn’t have more info. For only £6/metre it was an absolute steal so I snapped up 3 metres of it! I figured any left overs could be used for other projects.

I dithered over my pattern choice for a bit. I couldn’t decide how simple or complex I wanted it to be! I already had a couple of possibilities in my stash – the Eden jacket from Tilly and the Buttons, the Kelly Anorak from Closet Core Patterns and the Cascade Duffle from Grainline Studio. I was also interested in the Tosti jacket from Waffle Patterns as I’d seen. In the end I decided to go a different route and chose the Jacques raincoat from I Am Patterns.

(Some of you may think I’m completely insane for buying another jacket pattern after fessing you to already owning three but I wanted to make sure it was exactly right for what I wanted and the pattern just spoke to me!)

The Jacques jacket has a simple loose fit shape. It’s completely lined and has patch pockets on the front and a buttoned placket to hide the zip. I really liked the shape of it and saw some lovely versions of it whilst researching!

I altered the pattern just slightly before starting on the this project. I shortened the pattern by 5cm. I did a big bicep adjustment to the sleeve and shortened it a fraction too. To be honest I probably didn’t need to do these adjustments. The originally pattern would’ve fitted fine without them. But I wanted to custom fit it as much as possible so I went with my gut instinct to go for it!

The outer fabric I chose was pretty thin. I wanted to add some warmth to the inside so I chose to use a thickish jersey to line it which I also backed with wadding and quilted. Honestly I think this was the most time consuming part!

I cut out the lining fabric and wadding to roughly the right size, quilted it and then recut them to ensure the quilting process didn’t throw any of my pattern pieces off size. For the sleeves I chose to use a pre-quilted satin lining fabric that I had gotten from Stoff & Stil last year as from my experience, having slippy insides in the sleeves is an absolute must if you’re planning on wearing the jacket comfortably. I’d used it for this jacket and had enough left over for the sleeves. I added a patch pocket to the lining so I would have an internal pocket too. It was also the perfect spot for adding in my labels. I considered doing a welt pocket instead but decided the effort wasn’t worth it! (I may regret that later on!)

Sewing the jacket was pretty straightforward after this! I’ll be honest, I had a brief read over the instructions and then completely ignored them and did my own thing. I definitely have my favourite methods of bagging out jackets and finishing so it was probably for the best rather than struggle to follow instructions that will eventually lead to the same result.

It’s warmer than I thought it would be which is great. I think when it gets properly cold here, I’ll be able to wear it with a thick jumper underneath (there’s plenty of room!) and it’ll be fine!

This jacket looks exactly like so many others out there – both on the high street and handmade (I went for a walk the other day and saw at least 5 different yellow raincoats!). It might be unoriginal but it’s a classic that’ll hopefully last!