Post-Parka Depression + So You Want To Sew a Men's Parka...

OK, so actually, I'm not experiencing post-parka depression but the title sounded intriguing.

If truth be told, however, I have been in a mild funk for more than a month now, and the parka project helped lift me out of it.  The challenge now is to stay out of it.  Sewing helps.

And speaking of parka projects...

All in all, I was very happy with my Daisy Kingdom parka pattern.  A minor quibble is that I would have liked the pattern to make clearer how much overlap there is on the center fronts (i.e, the pattern just labels the front center edges as "CF," when the actual front is roughly 1" wide, after the seam allowance is accounted for.).  But that's what a muslin is for, I guess.  I just never went further than making sure the basic fit was right.  If I'd been making this in a plaid, say, I would have had to carefully study exactly how much the left front overlapped the right.

The Daisy Kingdom pattern, which dates from 1983, is not easily available (UPDATE: a newer version, now dubbed DK Sport, can be purchased at Seattle Fabrics; see links below) but there are other parka patterns out there you might wish to consider if you're interested in making a coat in this, or a similar, style.

The Green Pepper "Men's Oregon Jacket" pattern (below) can be purchased on the the Green Pepper website here, as well as a few other places, including Etsy and eBay.  It looks like it only has two pockets (instead of nine, like my Daisy Kingdom pattern), but that might not be a bad thing depending on your comfort level with making pockets.  Plus you can always add more pockets on your own.  Or just carry a knapsack.



Another in-print pattern is Vogue 8842.  There's actually a BMV sale going on right now that ends tomorrow (Thursday).  I'm seeing a price of $5.99 here today.  The Vogue parka also is a bit simpler than the pattern I used, but again, that's not necessarily a bad thing.  It includes a version with a hood and without.



Canadian Jalie has an in-print parka pattern and it includes both child and adult sizes in one envelope.  You can find it for sale here, and there are user reviews on the site too. 



Finally, there's Burda 8855 which is out-of-print and doesn't have a hood.  Still it's cute pattern as these things go.  Not so easy to find...



If you know of any other men's parka patterns out there, let me know.  There aren't oodles of men's outerwear patterns but it isn't quite the wasteland I'd first thought.  You simply have to do some research.

You're likely to need notions like two-way zippers, velcro, gripper snaps and, occasionally, grommets.  I had very little experience with the snaps and none with grommets, but they were much simpler to install than I had expected, and no need to purchase expensive pliers: you just need a mallet and good aim.  I did most of my stitching on my Singer 15-91; the Kenmore lacked sufficient piercing power to handle multiple layers of my outer fabric.  But it handled the lining just fine.  I did the cuffs on my Bernina 930 since it's a free arm.

I don't know a whole lot about where to source authentic parka-type fabrics, so if you have some good sources you can share, please do.  I'm aware of Seattle Fabrics, but their website is not very user friendly.  However, they DO have a page on their website called "So you want to make a lined parka" with fabric and notions recommendations.  Check it out here.

UPDATE:  Another excellent source of technical wear/outdoor fabrics, notions, and patterns is The Rainshed Inc. in Oregon.  Their website is here.

And check out the extremely comprehensive Specialty Outdoors site, here.

And that's it.  Next up, I may try making a windbreaker for running.

My latest purchase:



Not sure if I'll tackle this next but it's in the queue.

Have a great day, everybody!