Quilt coats are everywhere! From Target and Land's End to Madewell and Free People as well as at craft forward brands Vacilando and Haptic Lab too, you can buy a quilt coat almost everywhere these days.
But why buy one if you can make your own?
Caption: the Maggie Jacket
Quilters are not always confident when it comes to garment sewing BUT designer Machteld Hauwert known as Quilting Maggie created the "Maggie Jacket" earlier this year to help quilters make their very own quilt coat!! Machteld is not only a quilt designer, but she has been a fashion designer for 20 years, so a quilt coat combines all her expertise into a fabulous pattern with a bonus quilt block designed by Anna the Hackney Quilter.
Caption: Close up on "Maggie Jacket" quilt blocks
However, today we are going to hear not from me or from the designer about why they love this quilt coat, BUT from one of the pattern testers! The "Maggie Jacket" pattern was tested by several people including Kim Goings, the designer and creator behind Terra Quilting Co.
Kim makes beautiful quilts and quilted items using upcycled and repurposed garments and fabrics, saving them from landfills and turning them into something beautiful and with a new useful purpose. She has a background in art and costume and fashion design and a family history of quilts and quiltmaking. Her style is fresh and comforting, and I probably shouldn't even tell you about her stunning quilted Christmas stockings because they are so beautiful you will not stay here long enough to read the whole blog post!
She made her "Maggie Jacket" using the Maggie block, and here is what she has to say about it:
"The Maggie Jacket was so much fun to make. I love how this pattern is easily adaptable to so many different styles and interpretations and the fit seems to be universally flattering and comfortable. I made mine a bit over-sized and I am already excited to make another version of this jacket that is more fitted. I used the Maggie Block pattern to make my jacket, and because I am usually working with repurposed clothing and remnant fabrics, I don’t usually have a lot of yardage of one fabric from which to cut a full pattern. Using the quilt block pattern allowed me to use up a lot of scrap fabric and I had so much fun selecting small scraps to piece these jacket panels together. I was also making this jacket at the same time as several other quilters and makers, including Machteld herself, and what I loved most was watching them come to life as every person made the jacket in their own unique way. The instructions were clear and helpful and I would absolutely make this jacket over and over with and without using the quilt block, because I really think it offers so many opportunities to get creative and add special handmade pieces to my closet. And who doesn’t love the feeling of being wrapped up in a handmade quilt? This is that feeling, in jacket form."
I think that Kim is bang on with her assessment of quilt coats!! I must admit to being a little afraid of zippers, so that is why I have not attempted my own Maggie Jacket, but Machteld has nervous nellies like myself covered with a great blog post with very detailed pictures on how to do the zipper part. It might make me brave enough to try it myself. If I can settle on fabric or a block pattern!!
Thank you Kim for joining us on the blog this month!! Your Maggie Jacket is BEAUTIFUL!!
All photographs in this post were taken and furnished by Kim Goings.