seen here:
a hand-painted quilted coat I made in the summer of 2021.
the pattern is the Gibson Coat by it’s all in the stitch. I like this pattern because it’s got an oversized fit, and kimono-esque sleeves with a lot of ease through the armhole area. it’s perfect for layering; I like to wear mine over sweaters and sweatshirts in the cooler months.
my first step in making this coat was to hand paint the fabric, seen below. I used black Dye-Na-Flow fabric paint (sourced from Dharma Trading Company, in Petaluma, CA) on about 3-4 yards of Kona Natural. The process was basically to apply the black paint to the surface of what was initially dry fabric (laid flat on my worktable over a tarp), using a plastic eye dropper tool. after applying the paint, I used a spray bottle filled with water to partially wet the fabric and force the paint to bleed and flow in an organic pattern. the bleeding happens in an unpredictable way, and happens before your eyes; it’s pretty delightful to watch.
I then let the fabric air dry, draping it over some drying racks to ensure good circulation of air around the yardage as it dried.
I should note, at the time I was working out of home garage, a place where I do most of my painting and wet processes like dyeing. I am not living in my house anymore (my house is under renovation); I miss being able to mess around with paint, fabric printing, and fabric dyeing! but I digress…
once the fabric had air dried for a day or so, I brought the yardage inside, and put it into the dryer for 1 hour, on high, to heat set the Dye-Na-Flow paint and further bond it to the surface of the fabric.
the next step was to quilt the fabric. I used my Janome 6700 and a walking foot to quilt the fabric, in a diagonal crosshatch design. the quilting lines were approximately 2” apart, and I used a coordinating white thread to quilt all of the pieces of the coat. the inside of the coat is plain Kona Natural; it was not altered or painted in any way.
once all the pieces were quilted, I got down to the construction of the coat. I chose to make all the seams bound and visible, intending to put the bindings on the outside for a bolder look, as if each seam was visually outlined.
the making of the binding is notable: I wanted black binding but couldn’t find a solid black fabric that felt like it matched the black tone of the paint that I used, so I got creative and painted about a half yard of Kona Natural with black Dye-Na-Flow, basically dyeing the binding to match the rest of the coat.
i’m very pleased with how this coat came out. it’s a truly perfect layering piece for LA’s mild weather and unique; I have gotten many compliments on it when I have worn it to classes at school this past year.