Making the Nova coat, part 1.
I haven’t made any clothes for myself for such a long time. In fact, perhaps not since living in Brisbane. That’s over 13 years ago. So, I decided that I *needed* to (finally) make myself a coat. I have been planning to make one for way too many years.
The search for a pattern began. And planning how to do it. I think I’ve always been a bit intimidated by printing and planning a sewing pattern. I didn’t want to take it to a local print place, but I was also worried about the cost of printing ink. And then I got myself an inkless printer. I must admit that the Munbyn thermal printer might have been one of the big pushes to start making this jacket (it has 65 pages total!!).
Do you find that happens to you? Sometimes you want to do something, but a small thing stands in the way. Having an inkless thermal printer to print all those pattern pages was the thing that helped me do this whole project. Printing ink is crazy expensive, and our small town never seems to have the ink we need.
I finally decided on the Papercut Patterns Nova Coat. I’ve seen versions of this on Instagram over the years, and it always caught my eye.
And after much deliberation, a blue Ikat Indian cotton with a white linen lining was the fabric I chose. Yes, ok…. white lining what an idiot. But also, why not. Even though I’ve pre-washed the blue fabric, I ponder if perhaps there might still be some colour shift onto the white lining when I give it a wash; and I won’t be too sad about that.
Even though I’m very tech minded, I sometimes get a bit overwhelmed with the idea of setting up a new thing (phone, computer, device). The Munbyn is basically like setting up any new printer; I downloaded the software onto my computer and followed all the steps to add it to my printer settings.
I set it up and printed from my laptop, but you can print directly from your smartphone as well. The instruction booklet was really simple, but there are videos if you need, as well.
The biggest challenge I think was working out how to put the pattern pieces together. The printing part was the easiest. Cutting the fabric the scariest. Let’s just say that buying fabric in UK£ (plus shipping) makes this coat an investment piece of clothing!
I’m going to share some more info about the pattern itself over the next week, as I work on it. I want to take this slowly because I don’t want any sewing tantrums / having to unpick! But for now, let me say that the instructions look clear and easy.
I printed the instructions out also using the Munbyn – I think usually I might not print the instructions, and just look at my computer for reference. Are you starting to think I don’t like buying printer ink! It’s true I don’t. I usually find it runs out exactly when I have a big job to print, and it drives me crazy.
The pattern printed fairly quickly, in a long roll of paper. I think next time I’ll use the regular flat paper, as the rolled paper has made cutting the pattern and laying it out on the fabric a little hard. I had to press the cut pieces under a stack of books overnight. But I can understand that the roll of paper would be handy for taking the printer with you, as it stores inside the printer ready for use.
For this pattern I’ve spent about 2 or so hours cutting and sticking the pattern together. It sort of tested my level of patience of keeping-things-straight. Because you might know that I’m a wonky cutting person. I liked the challenge and feel like it was good for me to take this time to slow down with joining those sweet little ‘Papercuts’ hearts and then cutting along the correct dotted line.
I think this part of the process is making me excited for the project. It’s different than my usual makes. The thermal paper takes the pins really well, and didn’t mark or scratch at all, like other thermal paper does. That’s handy, as I know I’ll want to use this pattern again for another coat (next winter’s project). It’s also a great weight for a printed pattern, not tissue thin, and not as thick as regular printer paper.
So far, I’ve cut out all the fabric, and now am onto the next step. Let’s hope I have a small bit of fusing hiding at home, as I forgot to get that (once again another thing our small town doesn’t have; but I do have a sewing friend and she might have some for me).
A Saturday spent in the quiet of the studio with the paper pattern and this beautiful fabric. And listening to podcasts and some fun sing-along music.
Project details:
Pattern is PaperCuts Pattern Nova Coat
Fabric is from Merchant & Mills; Indigo snow Ikat and virgin white linen.
The paintings in my photos are by Vi. She’s a local artist and one of the most beautiful women you’ll ever meet. Her pieces are in our studio for my son to photograph them for her portfolio; I couldn’t help but share them here as well.
Some notes about the Munbyn printer:
Munbyn’s portable inkless thermal printer uses FSC, recycled and BPA-&-BPS free paper, which means that it’s recyclable and compostable. Most thermal printers are full of chemicals – not something you want to touch or be pinning to your fabric. I’ve also read that the print can last up to 3-years, so in terms of keeping your pattern this is perfect.
It really is as tiny as it says. I can easily carry it back and forth between home and the studio in a tote bag. It plugs into the computer to print and is Bluetooth wireless with your smartphone.
Next time I will use the flat paper as I think it’ll be easier for piecing the pattern and laying it on the fabric. It took 2 rolls of this paper to print the pattern and instruction booklet, which is about 65 pages in total.
One thing that the printer didn’t do was alert me to the fact that it had run out of paper. The first time this happened it sat there saying it was offline, so I had a little bit of working through that. Thankfully my son was here to remind me to check the paper.
And then the second time when the paper ran out and I changed it, the printed had missed a few pages in the print job. I think what happened is perhaps it doesn’t read / know that it’s run out, so can’t pause the print job. I noticed because the pattern has page numbers written on it; I went in afterwards and re-printed those few pages.
*This is a paid post for the Munbyn printer, but all opinions and words are mine. This is such a cute and easy to use little printer and strange as it may sound it’s sparked some sewing creativity in me to make more clothes. I’ve got two dresses lined up next.
Munbyn has generously given me a 12% discount code for you to try out your own wireless thermal printer, or maybe one of the sticker or label printers. Use "BLOG12OFF" with no minimum purchase. (The discount is valid in UK, US and Aust).
