Tutorial - Fireman Coat

Halloween is just a little over two months away!  Are you making Halloween costumes this year Of all the sewing I do, Halloween sewing is my favorite, so I love this time of the year.  My kids are still deciding what they want to be this year, it changes every week!  So while they work on deciding this years costumes, I figured I would throw back to Halloween two years ago.  

Remember A's fireman costume?  I shared the tutorial for the pants HERE and the tutorial for the coat has been over at Pattern Revolution.  But I wanted to post it here too. If you missed the costume two years ago, you can catch it now, with some updated pictures...same old costume, different kid.  

This costume has seen a lot of wear in the last two years, it is a favorite from the dress up box.  My son was not quite 3 when he wore this costume.  I had made the coat a bit big so he could get some extra pretend play out of the costume, and at 4 and a half years old it fits him great.  The pants not so much, but he still squeezes into them! He has requested a new pair of pants, so that has been added to the "to sew" list, I should probably sew up a second coat too, Em loves this costume just as much as he does!

I used duct tape on the coat instead of reflective tape.  I couldn't find the reflective tape locally so I improvised.  Are wondering how duct tape on fabric holds up after two years? (I was a bit curious about how it would wear when I made it) Turns out, it holds up great!  This has even been through the washing machine several times, I haven't put it in the dryer, I always hang or lay flat to dry.  

Alright, on to the tutorial!  For this coat, I used plain cotton fabric, a tan color for the outside (similar to the color our local firemen wear) and a black for the lining and silver and yellow duct tape for the reflective stripes.  I used the Puddle Jumper Coat Pattern by Peek-A-Boo Patterns as my base for the coat and I chose a size up.

I cut out all the pieces according to the pattern but I skipped the hood and hood binding. 

Next, I added my reflective tape (AKA duct tape).  I started with the cuffs.  I folded the cuffs in half and put a piece of yellow tape about 1/2" from the fold.  Then I cut a piece of silver so it was 3/4" wide and put that in the middle.  I found it was easiest to stick the tape on my self healing mat and use my rotary cutter to cut it, it doesn't stick to the mat well so it was easy to get up. 

Next I flipped the cuff over and put tape on the other side too.  I knew I would be rolling the sleeves since I was making a size big and wanted the tape to show with the sleeves rolled, but also show when he grows and they aren't rolled.  So I ended up with two rows of tape about 1" apart on both cuff pieces. 

Then I repeated the process with the bottom band piece.  I folded it in half and placed my tape about 1/2" from the fold. 

To add the tape to the jacket, I started with the sleeves and put the tape about 1" above the corner where the armpit will be.  Then I added it to both front pieces and the back piece, making sure it  was even with the tape on the sleeves. 

I sewed all the edges of the duct tape down.  Sewing the tape was not as tricky as I thought it might be.  It did gum up my needle a bit, I wiped it down with rubbing alcohol occasionally while I was sewing and then changed my needle when I was done. 

I added the pockets to the front pieces of the coat according to the pattern instructions.  I made the flaps over the pockets by cutting two rectangles that were as wide as my pocket pieces and 4" long (for the 4/5 size coat they were 6" x 4").  I folded the rectangles and sewed around the edges, leaving a small opening on the top for turning.  I turned, pressed and top-stitched the flaps over the pockets with the folded edge at the bottom and the hole at the top so it would get closed up when I top stitched. 

I sewed the jacket pieces and lining pieces according to the pattern. Be careful when you are sewing that you do not iron your duct tape!  If you need to iron anywhere there is duct tape use a pressing cloth and low heat or the duct tape will melt. Once I had the outer coat and lining done but not sewn together, I made my collar.  I measured the length of the neck opening of the jacket. 

I cut two rectangles for my collar 1" smaller then the opening and 3" wide (22" x 3" for size 4/5).  Iron interfacing to one of the rectangle then sew along three sides, leaving one long side open.  Clip the corners, turn the collar right side out and press.  Top stitch along the 3 finished edges. Find the middle of the collar and the center back of the coat.  Pin the collar to the right side of the coat, starting in the middle and working out.  Baste the collar to the coat. 

Attach the lining, finish the sleeves and add the snaps according to the pattern.  

There you have it! One adorable firefighter costume!  You can find the bunker pants tutorial HERE.  And you can get some more costume inspiration HERE!