The moment I first saw the Ulysses Trench from Victory Patterns, I was blown away. It was just so, well, cool.

Likely too cool for me.

So, wary of whether I could really pull off such a statement garment, I resisted…

For a while.

But, in the end, when you can’t get a sewing project out of your head, the only solution is to get it onto your body!

It’s all about the fabric!

This project is definitely one where fabric choice is pivotal.

I have a ridiculous sewing consumer confession to make here: it took me FOUR fabric purchases to get this right!

I like to think that I’ve become a bit of a pro at buying fabric online. I’m usually pretty good at gauging what will work and what won’t.

But we all have bad days – at least three of them, in this case!

Originally, I had wanted to make this in pale pink. I purchased a pale pink Italian suiting wool. I thought suiting wool would be a good option for getting the drape this pattern needs, without the wrinkles that come with other options (linen or tencel, for example). But when it arrived, the colour wasn’t quite pink enough and made me look a bit washed out. Especially, when worn head to toe.

So, I decided to go with tencel, just like Victory Patterns’ samples of the Ulysses Trench. I bought a beautiful rust-coloured tencel from Meter Meter. But, when it arrived, again, I was a little unsure of the colour from head and toe. And, I was worried it wrinkled too much to be practical for outerwear. That lovely fabric became this Cascade Skirt, which I think was a better use for it!

Then, I finally found THE fabric. It’s a wool jersey from The Fabric Store. Except, I had purchased it with a completely different project in mind and only had 1.5 metres. When it arrived (seriously, is there a better moment than when you receive a package from The Fabric Store!!!), I stood in front of the mirror and held it over my body. Please tell me I’m not the only one who does that with every new fabric. And I was amazed.

It had the perfect combination of drape and softness, but it was still warm and cosy! And I loved the burgundy colour of the inside. Where it would drape open at the collar, it would almost look like a coordinating scarf.

I knew that I had finally found my Ulysses Trench fabric.

But I had to do a second order to have enough yardage for it! That meant another round of customs duties. Grrrrrr!

But, phew, I got there eventually.

And, no, I have not calculated the total amount I have spent on fabric intended for this project! Don’t want to know!! And I will use the other remaining fabric eventually, I promise…

My Ulysses Trench

Alright, so, fabric in hand, off I set.

My Ulysses trench is a size medium.

The Ulysses trench is an unlined coat, designed to be more of a summer/spring trench. The inside seams are finished with self-bias binding. As I was using a jersey, which is entirely outside of the recommended fabric range, bias binding my seams was way too chunky. I did bind a few large vertical seams, just for a professional look. But then largely left my seams unfinished.

It is jersey, after all.

I firmly believe that leaving jersey seams unfinished is really just a way of showing full respect to the unique properties of the fabric! In my mind, each time a sewist finishes a jersey seam, the jersey slaps itself on the forehead and says “Noooo, why did she waste time doing that, I ain’t ever gonna unravel. Owww, my poor pierced edges…”.

Ummm, am I the only one who imagines their fabrics talking?

The experience of sewing the Ulysses Trench was entirely painless. Victory Patterns make great quality patterns with great instructions. I had no issues with sewing the vent, for example. Again, the fact that it’s unlined is pretty helpful in terms of ease of sewing.

For a trench, this is a very accessible pattern, since there are no difficult closures and the shawl collar requires almost no sewing at all. That collar is definitely something to keep in mind when shopping for fabric for the Ulysses trench. The collar means that the wrong side of your fabric will be visible for this part (there is no facing here, which is something I wasn’t entirely sure of when admiring the pattern from afar).

So make sure your fabric has pretty insides…

Sewing kryptonite

Also, the Ulysses Trench is one of the first pattern I have come across which has helped me with  my personal sewing kryptonite.

I don’t think I’ve shared this with you before, but I have an unfortunate special ability. I have an uncanny knack of always marking my pattern pieces on the wrong side. Given the chance, I will always manage to mark my dart lines on the outside and my buttons on the inside.

Please tell me I’m not alone in this! I’ve always been a tad spatially challenged!! If the door is clearly marked ‘Push’, I will almost certainly try to pull it first!!!

So I loved that the actual pattern pieces for the Ulysses Trench state whether you should mark the lines on the right or wrong side.

Yeah!!! Even, I can’t mess this up!

Ulysses Trench: Finishing Touches

My Ulysses Trench follows the pattern pretty much exactly, except for the very minor details below.

The Ulysses Trench is supposed to be finished along the hem and collar with bias binding. I skipped that and left the edge unfinished, as it definitely suited this wool jersey fabric better.

I also added used some navy leather scraps for the shoulder tabs and added some leather elbow patches. I used the Plantain Tee pattern as the model for the patches.

But can we just take a moment to marvel at what I think is one of the best design features I have ever seen in a pattern. The belt loops are holes that are built into the overlay piece, where the overlay meets the side seam. Sorry I didn’t get a picture, but seriously, go check it out on the Victory Patterns site, it looks unreal! I feel so incredibly excited every time I see this little detail.

Are there some little details that just really do it for you?

And, in the end…

So, I really like the end result.

And it does make me feel much cooler than is really justified whenever I wear it.

And the view from the back, with those belt loops of my dreams and a nice floaty overlay, is just right.

But, I do have to say that, while I like it, the front view, is a little out there. There is definitely a marked contrast between how the Ulysses Trench looks from the front and how it looks from the back. Business at the back, loungewear at the front?

And it has taken me a little bit of getting used to the front view.

When I wear it, there is still this little tiny part of me that wonders, ummmm, does it look like I’m wearing a Grandpa’s plaid dressing gown?

For this reason, I haven’t actually added the D-ring to enable the belt to close because, well, belted closed, it actually does resemble a dressing gown from the front in this fabric.

Oh well, more of an excuse to make sure that every time I wear this I’m simply swishing around effortlessly in mild temperatures, my open drapey dollar floating fluidly in the wind…

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.