My Finished Kelly Anorak

I feel as though I've been working on this for ever, so I'm so excited to be able to finally wear it! It is, of course, my Kelly Anorak. Last year, I decided that I wanted to try and make something that would really push my sewing skills, and so I chose to make the Closet Case Patterns Kelly Anorak. The plan to make an anorak has actually been with me for a while, although it didn't fully form until quite recently. Before I even got onto the sewing, there were so many different things to do to prepare, and so I did everything bit by bit. First, I bought the fabric when I visited Stoff and Stil. It is an absolutely stunning duck egg blue fabric. I also decided to make the lined version of the anorak, so I purchased this gorgeous jersey from Higgs and Higgs which is incredibly soft. Following this, I slowly assembled all the pieces: the rivets, the zip, the snaps etc.

Making this anorak was... a test of my patience to say the least! There were a lot of pattern pieces, especially as I made the lined version. This is definitely the longest I have ever spent on a project but it was absolutely worth it. The fabric is one of my favourite parts, I absolutely love the colour, and I also really like the lining. I made the sleeves out of one of those slippery fabrics, which is something that a lot of ready to wear coats use as their lining. It really helps to get the coat on and off, and it meant that I was able to get all of the necessary pattern pieces out of the fabric that I had.

There were definitely some parts of making this that were exasperating, so I would recommend having a big project like this as something going on in the background - at the same time I made a couple of breather sewing projects which helped to make the whole thing less intense. The lining comes as an expansion to the original pattern, but not all of the original pattern pieces are required when using the lining pieces. For example, there is a new sleeve pattern piece which you need to cut both the main fabric and the lining fabric out of. I did find this slightly confusing at first as it wasn't perfectly explained on the pattern, but after some persevering I did manage to make sense of it. I would also recommend using the sew-along for this anorak. I pretty much relied solely on this and hardly glanced at the instruction booklet.

There are so many parts of this anorak that I love, it's impossible to choose my favourite aspect! I am so pleased that I decided to line it though, I think that it looks really nicely finished. The lining also adds a bit of extra warmth which is necessary during spring here! One of my favourite parts is the Liberty hanging loop. I love splashes of colour so much, and this is one of my favourite Liberty prints, so it feels just right to have it inside.

I also love the hardware, I think it gives it such a professional finish! While hammering in snaps and rivets is slightly terrifying, it is definitely worth it: I love the end look. I had a bit of difficulty finding the right cord, and while a lighter grey would have been my first choice I'm actually really pleased with the dark grey. The cord locks are also from Stoff and Stil. I haven't bought any cord stoppers yet, but a bit of sellotape on the ends of the cord is definitely not going to put me off wearing this coat!

I really can't say how pleased I am with this. I just love it! I think it might be one of my favourite things I've ever sewn, and it's definitely one of my proudest makes. It's also finished in perfect time for spring, so I hope that I'm going to be getting lots of wear out of it soon.