Quilt coats have been a thing for years now, and I have wanted to make one for so long. You know how it is: I kept going back and forth. Which quilt pattern should I use? Should I make a quilt just for the purpose of cutting it up into a coat? Or should I use one I already had? And then there was the question of the coat pattern itself.
So… I kept postponing it. For a long time.
But then I realised something: QuiltCon is only five weeks away.
And if I was ever going to make a quilt coat, this was it. What better excuse than QuiltCon in Raleigh, NC? I’m going there for the very first time, and I’m ridiculously excited to finally meet the modern quilting community and some of my Instagram quilty friends in real life. And obviously: this calls for a quilt coat.
Choosing the pattern: a shawl collar was non-negotiable
I’ve always known I wanted a coat with a shawl collar. Something soft and cozy, a bit more wrappable, and honestly just a little more stylish, in my opinion. (Or more bathrobe-ish, if you insist. Haha.)
After some searching, I landed on the Quilt Coat pattern by Oscilatey on Etsy. One of the big reasons I chose it was exactly that: the shawl collar option. And it turned out to be a really good match for my Salty Fibers quilt.
The quilt: Salty Fibers and Norwegian sweater inspiration
The Salty Fibers quilt is one of my all-time favorite quilts.
It’s actually strip pieced, but because I used different fabrics for each strip, the overall feeling is very scrappy. This was the first time I made a quilt with the mindset: Use all the good fabrics you love. Don’t save them for the perfect project. And honestly, that is such good advice. Your favourite fabrics are put to much better use in a quilt than on your shelf. And if you use your favourite fabrics, it might turn into your favorite quilt, too!
The pattern itself is inspired by the Norwegian islender sweater: a simple, repetitive two-color pattern that was easy to knit even when daylight hours were scarce and the lighting was bad. Very practical. Very Norwegian. And kind of full-circle to use a sweater-inspired pattern to make a quilt coat, right?
A note about daylight (and bad photos)
Speaking of scarce daylight: I actually made this coat in just one day (and evening). And since it’s the middle of winter here in Norway, the process photos are not the best. Bear with me.
How to make a quilt coat: printing and preparing the pattern
The Oscilatey pattern comes as a PDF, so you need to print it at home.
Remember to print at 100 percent scale, no “fit to page” or anything like that. There’s a little test square on one of the first pages so you can measure and make sure everything is printed correctly.
Then comes the slightly old-school part: you tape all the pages together into one big sheet and cut out each pattern piece. (Disclaimer: I actually did this the day before the actual cutting and sewing of the coat, but it didn't take me very long.)
Making a test version (highly recommended)
The morning of cutting into my actual quilt, I made a quick test version from an old and worn bedsheet. Just to check that I had picked the right size and that I understood the pattern. I did NOT do any finishing touches here – it's all just raw edges and wonky seams, it was just to get the overall impression of the fit.
I realised it was going to be a little oversized, but I still went with the L/XL, which is my normal size.
I ended up making the coat about 1.5 inches longer, to match the length of the quilt so I could use the entire long edge for the shawl collar without adding extra seams.
I also made the sleeves about 1 inch wider at the top, because they felt a little narrow and I wanted room for layers underneath. In hindsight, that probably wasn’t necessary. They are more than roomy enough now. (Note that if you do alterations like this, you'll need to do it on both pieces that you're going to join!)
Cutting into a finished quilt
Next step: laying out all the pattern pieces on the quilt.
Remember that you need two of most pieces, and that they need to be mirrored. I didn’t follow the suggested layout in the pattern, because I wanted my coat to be as symmetrical as possible. So I moved the pieces around a bit to get the best possible placement.
I put my big cutting mat on the floor, placed the quilt and pattern pieces on top, and cut using a ruler and rotary cutter. Then I just moved the mat around as I went.
Yes, this is the scary part. Cutting into a finished quilt. But also kind of exciting.
Sewing the quilt coat: seams, bias tape, and structure
The pattern is pretty easy to follow. I won’t say that every part is super detailed, though, so I do recommend having sewn a simple garment or two before, just to be familiar with the general process.
I decided to press as many seams as possible flat and cover them with bias binding.
This worked perfectly for the shoulder seams, the seams that join the sleeves to the front and back, and the shawl collar seam.
For these, I sewed with about 3/8 inch seam allowance, pressed the seam allowance flat, centered the bias tape on top, pinned it down, and stitched along each side of the bias tape about a millimeter or two (1/16"-ish) from the edge.
Because I wanted this to stay as flat and stable as possible, I also stitched in the ditch from the right side of the coat. This way, the seam allowances won’t be able to move around inside the bias tape if the coat is washed.
For the side seams and sleeve seams, this flat method wasn’t really possible. So there I attached the bias tape like regular binding and stitched it down by hand afterwards so it would lie flat.
A little hidden detail: the hanging loop
The pattern suggests adding a hanging loop in the neck while attaching the final bias tape over the collar seam. Such a nice little detail.
So I went digging in my box of Ruby Star selvedges to find the perfect phrase. You know how they always have such fun colors and texts on them.
I ended up using one from the Vessel collection, which coincidentally is also the fabric I used for the binding of the Salty Fibers quilt. It says: Creativity flows freely. And honestly, what better phrase to have in the neck of a handmade coat? I cut a piece that was a couple of inches longer than the quote on each side, folded the long edges to the back and hand stitched them carefully together, because I didn't want any seams on the quote.
Here's how I folded it before sewing it on. I cut the ends off after sewing the first seam, so the ends are hidden inside the bias.
The finished quilt coat (and my new favourite thing to wear)
I must admit that this is now my new favourite thing to wear in my home office. Not surprisingly, it feels just like... wearing a quilt. It's January and way too cold to use as an outside jacket yet, but it will be nice once spring comes!
It’s soft, warm, and all the different prints make me very happy. And I love that it’s made from a quilt pattern that’s so closely tied to my Scandinavian, salty-fisherman-sweater inspiration.
Will this be my last quilt coat? Most likely not. I already have ideas.
But this one will always be special. My first quilt coat. And my QuiltCon coat.
If you see me at QuiltCon 2026 wearing this, please say hello. And let’s be friends!