Posh Pooch Soft Shell

Hi there Lisa Here from @sewlastminutelisa on IG

I’m so happy to be back with a guest blog post for lovely Amanda.
As soon as I saw her call out on Instagram for Guest Bloggers I quickly offered my services. If you know Amanda you’ll already know that her fabrics are amazing and that she has the most beautiful selection on her website. This time when I browsed was no different. I was spoilt for choice.
I had in mind for a while a jacket for walking the pooch but on that was dressy enough to wear if we “stumbled” upon a nice country pub/coffeeshop on our travels. I shared my pattern ideas with Amanda , we were on the same waves and sent me some fabric samples on the gorgeous soft shell

I was torn but the animal soft shell won in the end and I’m so glad it did. Amanda is making a jacket in the colourful dots – so if we ever bump into each other we wont have that “awkward moment” 😂I already had a pattern that I got last summer but in typical me style I just stashed it until now!

Once I got started the coat came together really quickly but I stalled for a while wondering if I’d made a boo boo with the fabric and gathered sleeves. I’d no need to have worried though. It gathered easily and perfectly even too! I did use the wonder clips rather than pins as I didn’t want to mark the fabric piercing holes unnecessarily. Apart from anything else the pins would have struggled to go through the layers without bending. The fabric sewed together beautifully and even through any of the bulky parts of the jacket, it was fine.

The inside of the coat isn’t lined however I think in hindsight I wished I’d have finished the seams with bias binding rather than overlocking for a more pretty inside.

I had some little cord stoppers left over from another project that went perfectly with the fabric even though they are unnecessary as you can’t see them! But its all about the details right!

The inside of the jacket has a tie and I must admit attaching the channel was quite challenging to get pins in. Really I probably should have used double sided taped like Wonder Tape and that would have over come using pins😜. but hey ho! It’s a learning curve. This is the first time I’ve sewn with Soft Shell but I’d definitely recommend it.

I chose to put a popper on the sleeve fastening as opposed to the recommended button and button hole as I thought it would be easier to open and close.

I wore this coat for the first time at the weekend to walk the puppy and can confirm it was super toasty despite the outside temperature being 3 degrees!.

If you’ve never sewn with soft shell and are nervous about trying, I’d say just go for it. This fabric was a dream to sew, the water repels off it nicely and its lovely and warm for chilly days. What’s not to love!