Sewing With Zero- Waste: The Hooded Bog Coat

In Part 3 we continue exploring the idea of zero-waste sewing with a look at the design of the Hooded Bog Coat. Follow along as Shari explains a little more about the design origins and shows us how to make the scaled down version for our dolls!

Zero-waste sewing is not a new thing. Until the advent of textile mills, all cloth was woven by hand and was a very precious and expensive commodity. Because of this, clothing was designed to waste as little cloth as possible. Check out this 19th century cutting diagram for a man's shirt from the book, Cut My Cote by Dorothy Burnham. The only waste from the entire length of cloth was that little gray rectangle in the upper left - that is outstanding zero-waste design!

The general thought was, the less a length of fabric was cut and pieced, the more easily it could be adapted for other uses later on.

The design of the Hooded Bog Coat pattern that we will be featuring this week is based on a European design that dates back thousands of years to the Bronze Age. The Bog Coat, so named because the earliest examples of this coat design were found preserved in highly acidic peat bogs. These coats were cut from a single rectangular piece of cloth and shaped with three ingeniously placed cuts that were sewn together with two straight seams.

This simple design was very versatile. Worn with the opening in front, it could be cut long and made with a heavy fabric to make a warm and practical coat or it could be cut short and made with a fine fabric to make an elegant jacket. Turned around, the Bog Coat could be worn as a blouse or a dress. 

The Bog Coat has remained in use for thousands of years, and with the revived interest in Zero-Waste sewing, the design has found its way back into the fashion industry. We've seen many examples of this design featured in tutorials and magazines like this example from Threads.

The Hooded Bog Coat pattern that is featured in this weeks video follows the concept of the original Bog Coat with the addition of a hood. It is cut from a single rectangle of fabric with four cuts that will form the hood and sleeves.

Watch the video to see how it all comes together!

To make the coat, you'll need  a few supplies:

• The Hooded Bog Coat pattern (available separately)
• Rectangle of Woven Fabric cut to the pattern dimensions - for the 18 inch size that would be 18.5” wide by 21” long
• Thread
• Fabric marker
• Three 3/8” buttons
• Three small snaps are optional if not using working buttonholes
• Scissors
• Pins
• Sewing machine
• Iron and pressing tools

We'd love to see what you make! Share your projects with us in the Sewing With Cinnamon Facebook Group!

Next week we wrap up the topic with a look at making our own fabric from our scraps! Be sure to join us again next week...