Sorriest Pattern Category BY A MILE, or "Slim Pickings"

Readers, have you ever thought about sewing a man's coat in a small size?  If so, I have good news for me and bad news you.  Last Tuesday I scored this fabulous men's coat pattern -- Vogue 9308 (above) -- in a size 36 on eBay for, like, $6 USD.  Sorry!

Friends who care, this lined men's coat pattern from the Seventies is rare -- in fact in the last two years or so, I have seen it exactly twice on Etsy, and never in my size.  I'm not planning to make it any time soon (it's almost June after all) but I do intend to make it.

I receive many emails from readers inquiring about men's coat patterns, primarily Vogue Sport 8452, my OOP (Out of Print) toggle, or duffle coat pattern.  This is because the number of decent in-print men's coat patterns is P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C.  And the number of decent OOP men's coat patterns isn't much better!

Come swim with me -- in my coat!

Now for a short, somewhat-related rant: As if that unwatchable-to-anyone-who-lived-through-the-Sixties-and-apologies-to-those-who-did-and-like-it TV show, Mad Men, weren't annoying enough just by its very existence; due to its popularity in the vintage sewing community, whenever I want to do a men's pattern search on Etsy, 90% of the search results are for women's patterns from the late Fifties and early Sixties, because savvy sellers use the keywords Mad Men to draw potential buyers to them.  Has anybody else experienced this?  It drives me crazy, though it has turned me on to some pretty sheath dress patterns.

But back to men's outerwear.  The situation is abominable and I am going to pull whatever tenuous strings (think taffy) I have with the Big 4 pattern companies to improve things.  I realize there are, like, twelve men out there who want to sew their own outerwear and maybe five women, but how could it be otherwise when the selection of patterns is so limited? 

FACT: You will have an easier time finding a Victorian or Edwardian style coat pattern than you will a contemporary (as in NOT early Nineties) one and not because styles have not changed in the last 150 years.  It is due to the fact that most men's outerwear gets made by/for 1) Civil War reenactors, 2) steampunk/Goth/Matrix scary people, and 3) SCA/Rennfest types.









Imagine if you wanted to sew yourself a dress and all you could find was either something out of Gone with the Wind or Robin Hood; THAT'S what we men have to deal with.

OK, there are a few decent patterns out there, primarily from Vogue and Burda.  This in-print trench coat pattern, V8720, is very nice.



Burda 8275, below, is in my collection already; not sure if it's still in print. You can't limit yourself to in-print men's outerwear patterns; you have to dig through the last forty years or so and hope for something with potential.



Paradoxically, while Burda is responsible for some of the best mens outwear patterns, it's also responsible for some of the worst, like this Georg Von Trapp number -- ugly.  



Uglier.



Ugliest. 



Friends, thank you for letting me get this off my chest.  If you would like to look at some more awful (and not-so-awful) men's coat patterns, you can here.  (I didn't even get started on men's fleece patterns, but boy, could I.)

In closing, do you agree that there is no more sorry pattern category than men's outerwear?

The pity party starts right here, right now, and comments of consolation are most welcome.

Have a great day, everybody!