Double-breasted Coat
A women's knee-length double-breasted coat with wide notched lapels, front and back yokes, princess seams and flap pockets. Fully lined, with shoulder pads.
When To Wear
- Over dresses, suits and knitwear in spring and autumn: it is cut from raincoat fabric.
- For the office and city wear with trousers or skirts.
Key Design Features
Silhouette: Semi-fitted, shaped by princess seams on the front and back below the yokes.
Length: Knee length.
Collar: Notched collar with wide lapels, cut as an upper and an under collar.
Closure: Double-breasted with buttons and buttonholes, plus a hidden button on the inner front.
Sleeves: Two-piece set-in sleeves with an elbow seam.
Pockets: Welt pockets with flaps near the side seams.
Front: A yoke across the chest; centre and side front panels below it.
Back: Back yoke, centre back seam and princess seams.
Finishing: Front edge seam understitched 0.2 cm from the seam: to the facing along the closure, to the front along the lapels. Shoulder pads and sleeve heads.
Lining: Full lining of the body and sleeves, including the yokes, tacked to the coat along the seams at the waist.
Level Of Difficulty
Intermediate. Welt pockets with flaps, a notched collar set between the coat and the facing, two-piece sleeves with shoulder pads and a lining bagged out through the sleeve.
Fabric Recommendations
Raincoat fabric.
Additional Supplies
- Lining fabric
- Fusible interfacing (facings, centre fronts, under collar, front yokes, flaps) and grain line stay tape
- 3 buttons
- Shoulder pads
- Sleeve heads
Cutter's Must
From main fabric:
- Back Yoke – 1 piece
- Center Back – 2 pieces
- Side Back – 2 pieces
- Lower Collar – 1 piece
- Upper Collar – 1 piece
- Flap – 4 pieces
- Side Front – 2 pieces
- Front Yoke – 2 pieces
- Center Front – 2 pieces
- Center Front Facing – 2 pieces
- Lower Sleeve – 2 pieces
- Upper Sleeve – 2 pieces
From lining fabric:
- Back Yoke – 1 piece
- Center Back – 2 pieces
- Side Back – 2 pieces
- Side Front – 2 pieces
- Front Yoke – 2 pieces
- Center Front – 2 pieces
- Lower Sleeve – 2 pieces
- Upper Sleeve – 2 pieces
- Pocket Lining – 4 pieces
- From fusible interfacing: Center Front Facing, Center Front, Lower Collar, Front Yoke, Flap.
Sewing Instructions
- Fuse interfacing to the Center Front Facing, Center Front, Lower Collar, Front Yoke and Flap.
- Place the Upper Collar and Lower Collar right sides together and stitch around the outer edges. Trim the corners, turn the collar right side out and press.
- Stitch the princess seams on the front and back and press them open. Stitch the center back seam and press it open. Stitch the Front Yoke to the front and press the seam open. Stitch the Back Yoke to the back and press the seam open.
- Place the Flap pieces right sides together and stitch along the outer edge. Trim the seam allowances at the corners, turn the flap right side out and press.
- Cut the welt strips for the side welt pockets. Mark the pocket opening and reinforce it with straight-grain fusible stay tape. Check the pocket position. Fold the welt strips lengthwise, wrong sides together, and press. Mark a stitching guideline on each welt strip parallel to the fold. Mark a stitching guideline on the flap parallel to its upper edge, measuring the flap width along its whole length. Mark guidelines parallel to the pocket opening for attaching the flap and the welt strips. Stitch the Pocket Lining to the flap. Stitch the welt strips to the front, ending the stitching exactly at the parallel marking lines. Check from the wrong side that the stitching lines are parallel. Cut the pocket opening, making diagonal cuts into the corners 1–1.5 cm from each end. Turn the welt strips through the opening to the wrong side, straighten the edges and adjust the ends so that the pressed folds of the welts meet edge to edge. Secure the pocket ends on the wrong side with a double row of backstitching across the base of the corner triangles. Insert the flap into the pocket and stitch it to the upper welt. Stitch the lower Pocket Lining into the seam attaching the lower welt; trim and stitch the pocket lining pieces together.
- Place the Center Front Facing on the front, right sides together, pin and stitch along the marked line. Stitch with the front uppermost, from the hem up to the notch that marks the end of the collar seam. Stitch the lower edges of the facings to the front exactly along the marked hemline. Trim the seam allowances at the upper and lower corners of the front edge. Understitch the front edge seam allowance 0.2 cm from the seam: along the closure to the facing, along the lapels to the front. Remove the pins. Turn the front edges right side out, ease out the seams and press.
- Stitch the shoulder and side seams of the coat. Press the shoulder and side seams open.
- Stitch the Upper Sleeve to the Lower Sleeve along the elbow seam and press it open. Stitch the front sleeve seam and press it open. Press up the sleeve hem.
- Stitch the Lower Collar into the coat neckline. Set the sleeves into the armholes, matching the notches. Attach the shoulder pads and sleeve heads.
- Stitch the seams of the lining pieces and set in the lining sleeves, leaving an opening in the front seam of the right sleeve. Press the lining seam allowances. Stitch the lining to the inner edges of the facings and to the Upper Collar. Press the collar seam allowances open and tack them together close to the seams.
- Mark and press the coat hem. Stitch the lining to the sleeve hems and the coat hem. Tack the lining to the coat along the seams at the waist. Turn the coat right side out through the opening in the sleeve lining. Stitch the opening closed.
- Mark and work the buttonholes on the fronts. Sew on the buttons. Mark and sew on the hidden button.
