The Londres Trench by Orageuse has been on my to-sew list for two years. It’s always seemed like a very intimidating pattern because of the number of pattern pieces involved.

When my friend Kirsten talked about making French patterns in February it seemed like the perfect time to make something that was a little more challenging than my regular makes. February was a busy month so the jacket, along with a few small other projects including pattern testing the Luna Crossbody Bag, were the only items I worked on. One of my aims this year is to make less, and to make a cohesive wardrobe.

I made my trench from heavyweight linen. When I saw the colour I knew it had to be outerwear as it’s the perfect neutral blue that goes with everything. I also had 3 meters so wanted to celebrate the whole length of fabric in one garment. The recommended fabrics are ones with drape such as Tencel, Viscose etc after making this in linen I can see why. Linen – even heavyweight – crushes. If you don’t like that look please don’t use linen for this pattern. I personally love crushed linen – it’s effortless chic!

The Trench is unlined which is perfect for in-between seasons. Because of this, all the internal seams are finished with bias binding. It’s a look I love even though it’s time-consuming. Bias seams are easy weeknight sewing lots of straight lines! In preparation for this project, I bought 30 metres of cotton bias binding from AliExpress. If you do this allow 3+ weeks for delivery.

I made a size 44. I sized up rather than down as this is what the pattern recommends. The garment needs to have enough ease to make it look effortless.

Once I had sewn all the bias binding the jacket came together quite quickly. I sometimes find with projects with lots of pieces I get overwhelmed by the amount of stuff involved. My sewing space is quite small so I need a better method to store all the different parts involved. I’d love to know if you have a favourite storage method.

As you can see I’m ridiculously proud of this jacket. I love the finished garment and have worn it quite a bit to both work and more casually on the weekend with jeans. It feels good to spend time on an item I’ll own for years. I encourage you to make something challenging this year even if it scares you!

Leave me a comment if you have any tips for organising your cut out projects.

Happy sewing!