Making the Retazo Coat your own can be a simple switch of closure method, or as elaborate a transformation as you’d like!

Here are 4 Quick Coat Hacks to make the Retazo Coat and Vest your own:

Making a Button Cuff (how to draft and sew a cuff facing with button loop)

• Trace off the wrist section from Front Sleeve and Back sleeve.
• Mark in seam allowances, and join the traced sections on the outer sleeve seam.

• Draw in the button opening shape: around 4″ from the cut edge, and around the center of the Back Sleeve portion. The gap in the opening will be around 3/4″ (1.9 cm). You’ll create a button loop (like in the button loop tutorial found here (ADD LINK)) that you’ll insert between the Sleeve and the Sleeve Facing layers. Then one side of the cuff can overlap the other, closing the wrist.Mark the width of the Cuff (4″ (10 cm) finished). Use a 1/4″ seam allowance on the top edge of the cuff facing. The seam allowances on the side seams and the bottom edge of the sleeve are 5/8″ (1.6 cm). On the final pattern piece, don’t trim the wrist seam allowance yet. It’s more stable to leave the fabric there, and trim it after sewing. You can cut up the center of the cuff opening if you need to, to make the sewing easier.

• Sew the sleeve as instructed, all the way up to Step 7. To sew the Cuff, press the top edge to the wrong side by 1/4″. Sew the sleeve seam.
• Sewing the curved seam at the wrist is the trickiest part of the hack. Don’t try to sew it on the free arm of your machine! It won’t fit. Instead, sew it with the wrong side of the cuff against the feed dogs and the wrong side of the main fabric against the foot, and the rest of the circle of the wrist opening UP. You can cut up the center of the cuff opening if needed, to get around the curves. Another option is to open the sleeve seam and cuff sleeve seams, sew the wrist first, and then sew the sleeve seam closed again, this time extending all the way through the Cuff sleeve seam. Because this part is tricky, I like to sew it first, then open the seam a few stitches and pop the button loop into position, and close it again. It’s a bit fussy, but I find it more stable and reliable than trying to position the button loop first.
• Trim the seam allowances to 1/8″ – 1/4″ (3-6 mm).
• Turn the cuff right side out. Press the Cuff Facing to the inside of the sleeve.
• Hand sew the top (folded) edge of the Facing in place on the inside of the sleeve.
• Try on the Coat, and mark the button position that you like.
• Sew on the buttons, and you’re finished!

Making Button Loops Instead of Using Sew-in Snaps.

This hack is perfect for when you have a handful of mismatched buttons that are just perfect for a scrappy jacket, or you just want to use what you have!

Using set snaps instead of sew-in snaps

There are four basic Snap styles:

• Sew On (as called for in the Retazo Jacket),
• Prong/Ring: lighter duty, classicly seen as pearl snaps or in children’s clothes
• Magnetic Snaps: great for using one handed and in light duty situations
• No-Sew Snaps which we’re talking about today. Snaps are usually installed with a press or with tools including a hammer and dies.

My top tips for using snaps:

• Spring Snaps or Fashion Snaps are the way to go. If you need something heavier duty, you can try utility snaps. Heavier duty doesn’t always mean it’s for thicker and thicker fabric- it means it takes more to open them so they don’t accidentally pop open (think at your waistband on jeans). Utility snaps are great for areas of strain or items needing a firm grip. Spring snaps are more like what we’re used to when we purchase clothes with snap closures. They are fairly secure and easy to use.
• Size 20 ligne (1/2″/12 mm) is what you see in the photos here. Size 24 (5/8″/15 mm) Could be more appropriate for a placket this size.
• Use the snap hardware that goes with the installation hardware. Each hardware tool to install snaps, whether it’s a big snap press or just a die set, has it’s own snaps that work best. Sometimes you can get away with using snaps from a different brand, but you’ll need to be extra careful and it can have repercussions like not being able to get the setting tools off of your snaps.
• Use a hammer to make layers thinner. This sounds a little extreme, but it can make a big impact to hammer thicknesses with a household claw hammer to make them thinner. Works great in sewing too!
• If you’re manually setting snaps (not using a snap press), the tools that are needed are: a die to precut a hole for the neck of the snap, and anvil to hold the snap piece while it’s being set, and a die to hammer the snaps on to the garment.
• If you have different die sets, mark them with matching washi tape to tell them apart.
• Top Tip: cut the hole for both placket sides at the same exact time by overlapping the placket as if it’s closed and cutting hole at one time. It makes setting both sides more accurate, faster and easier! Overall, it makes it a very satisfying and enjoyable process.

Materials list (press, brand of snaps, etc)

• Here are graphics illustrating the differences between press-set snaps, and hammer and die-set snaps. Either method works great. It’s sometimes best to get a kit when you’re first starting out. And sometimes you’ll find kits for other garments that are similar. Once you have the tools, you only need to replace the snaps. So make sure that’s possible where you’re purchasing the kit or tools.

Making the peter Pan with a squared off corner rather than rounded

This very tiny change can have a huge aesthetic impact! Sometimes collar shape is just personal preference, and sometimes you want to shake it up because of the vibes of your fabric choice or how the quilting looks. Whatever your reasoning, here’s what to do:

• Grab the Collar and Undercollar pattern pieces. As long as you don’t change the neckline or the length of the collar, you can do this really simply.
• Start with the Collar. With your ruler on the neckline, square out, towards the collar’s outer edge. With your ruler on the Collar’s outer edge, continue straight, making your straight line meet with the new squared line. You don’t have to have a 90 degree angle here, but I like to make it close, just because I prefer the aesthetic. It’s also easier to sew than a super pointy collar point!

• Transfer the new collar shape to the Undercollar (lining up the cut edges at the CF outer curve (where the start is in the illustration), knowing the necklines will look jogged but it’s okay, I promise!)

• Now, hold the collar up to yourself to check that you like the shape. (We already know that the neckline will fit, because it’s unchanged! So it’s just the shape that you’re double checking.)

• Sew the Coat/Vest as instructed. When you get to turning the collar right side out (Step 6b), you’ll turn the point right side out, rather than a curve. That’s it!

Lastly, a bonus tip. If this project sounds hard, try warming up by making the (free!) Lembas Laptop Sleeve using the quilt-as-you-go method! Or try the Elevenses Backpack – in our Elevenses Backpack sewing course, Meg uses this quilt-as-you-go method to make the Front and Back of her backpack!