I have been dreaming of sewing the Sapporo Coat by Papercut Patterns ever since it was first released.

And now, about two years later, it has finally happened!!

And, OK, given that I live in Northern Europe, there is likely only going to be a relatively short period of the year when I will be able to wear a heavyweight cotton ‘coat’ with no closures.

But I don’t care.

Because I am hopelessly in love with this me-made.

And even if I can’t wear it a lot each year, I will wear it for many years to come.

My Sapporo Coat

The Sapporo Coat is obviously quite a distinctive and stunning design in its own right. But, for me, this was one of those makes that was dictated by the fabric.

Ages ago, I started seeing ads appearing on instagram (you know those ads from apparent ‘clothing companies’ that present nice photos but the company themselves look so dodgy that you’re not really sure whether they actually really exist?). In these ads a model wears a green-toned cocoon coat with large pockets in a stunning large-scale nature-inspired geometric print.

Since seeing that image, I haven’t been able to get the idea of a large-scale geometric but nature-inspired Sapporo Coat out of my head.

Accordingly, I spent about a year on the look out for the perfect fabric!

And, of course, who comes to the rescue with the perfect fabric? The Fabric Store of course!

As I soon as I saw this “Abstract Seedpod Print Cotton” I knew she was the one. It is a heavyweight cotton which is sufficiently sturdy to hold the cocoon shape of the Sapporo Coat without being overly stiff, ensuring that it is also comfortable to wear. It has a very slightly textured feel to it. It also successfully skirts the potentially dangerous colour boundary of black and blue together. Which is great because I feel that it is highly wearable with black, navy, blue, grey and white tones.

Which is pretty versatile!

The print is very large scale (repeats every 76 cm) and it’s also a narrower fabric. For me this meant that I didn’t have enough fabric to make my pattern placement perfect (e.g. symmetrical and matching across all seams). You would really need an excessively large amount of fabric to be able to do this with such a large-scale print. I did have enough fabric, however, that I took my time in imagining how the finished garment would look at made some strategic choices about placement.

Sewing the Sapporo Coat

Since it took me a couple of years to get around to sewing the Sapporo Coat, there was already a lot of information out there about it by the time I started.

One thing I had consistently read was that it was pretty oversized. Another thing you should keep in mind is that, unlike most of Papercut’s patterns, the Sapporo Coat only comes in 3 different sizes: XXS/XS, S/M, L/XL. Although my waist measurement put me in the largest size, I chose to sew the S/M size.

But, in view of the fact that this idea had been bouncing around my head forever and this fabric was precious, I was a good little sewist and sewed a muslin.

From my muslin, I could see that the S/M was generally a good overall fit for my body but the sleeves were huuuuge.

I ended up reducing width at the shoulder seam and the upper part of the sleeve by about 5 centimetres in total. And I took about 12 centimetres in total from the seam running the length of the underarm. So my overall shoulder and arm shape and width are significantly altered from the pattern as designed.

Beyond this playing around with the arm and shoulder, however, i was pretty pleasantly surprised by the fit and ready to go!

Sapporo Coat: Instructions

I found the construction of the Sapporo Coat pretty straight forward and didn’t encounter any major difficulties.

Funny how making a muslin can have that effect, right?

I found that the instructions for installing the lining a tad sparse, which is a general complaint I have with Papercut’s patterns. So I wouldn’t recommend this as your first ever lined coat pattern (unless you are willing to rely on tutorials/resources from other sources).

But if you’ve made a few fully lined coats, it’s not problematic.

The technique for adding in the lining did rely on quite a bit of hand-sewing, which I’m trying to learn to love (Benefit: I can sew and watch TV with the other half at the same time).

So, all-in-all, sewing the Sapporo Coat was not too bad. (BTW, that’s Australian-speak for “it was actually great”. I recently had a new colleague at work look at me with concern in her eyes and ask “what’s wrong” when I replied “not bad” to her greeting of ” how are you?”. We’re just somewhat under-stated, ok?)

The best laid plans…

I have a confession to make. A few months ago, when I wrote a big old post about updating my style and coming up with a more curated wardrobe, I swore that I was not going to sew this Sapporo Coat.

I swore that despite the fact that I loved the idea, the shape just didn’t really work with my wardrobe and the silhouettes I prefer wearing. I promised I would do something more, well, co-ordinating with this fabric instead.

And I tried, I really did. But I just really couldn’t get excited by the idea of doing anything with this fabric except this Sapporo Coat.

So I threw curation to the wind.

Just this once.

And, you know what, I have not a single regret.

I feel that this Sapporo Coat is one of the most unique wardrobe pieces I have ever owned.

It’s love, for real.

Which goes to show that curation and planning can only get you so far. Sometimes, you also just need to follow your heart and break your own rules in the process.

Am I alone here? Or do you have one or two of those wardrobe pieces that don’t really go with everything else but you adore them to bits all the same?

And, finally, speaking of breaking one’s own rules, I also said in that post that I was done with coat making. Well, as far as I’m concerned, this pattern may be called the Sapporo Coat, but without any closures and made up in cotton like this, I definitely think of this as my Sapporo Jacket, rather than a coat. It’s not a northern hemisphere coat for sure.

So I don’ think I’ve broken that rule.

Yet.

Oh and, finally, a little P.S! If you like to get your blog hits through Bloglovin’, feel free to follow me over there: you can find me here. And you can find me on Instagram here.