So after a very long hiatus, I have decided to return with a vengeance. Despite the fact that coat season is going to be coming to a close in just a couple of months, this post is going to be all about finding that perfect fabric to make a cute coat that is heavy enough to wear for the rest of the winter, or light enough so you can carry it over into the spring.
Living in New York, I've become partial to heavy winter coats, since winter lasts what seems like forever.
Mood (37th Street b/w 7th and 8th Avenues, 3rd Fl) has a great heavy wool and boucle selection. I absolutely love a neutral coat so that I can pair it with some colorful accessories, and Mood has a great selection of wool neutrals. Now, truth be told, buying several yards of wool is not going to be cheap, especially when you are going to be making a heavy coat. Three yards of fabric could even run you up to $180 - $200 depending on the content of the fabric. If you want something in pure wool, alpaca, or cashmere, you will be running on the more expensive side. I generally try to go with something synthetic, which isn't necessarily as warm as pure wool, but doesn't make such a huge dent in my wallet. Here's a tidbit of info if you're looking for the coating at Mood: go up the stairs and the coating is all the way on the left side of the floor.
Another great store for coating and boucle is
Elegant (40th Street b/w 7th and 8th Avenues). If you go upstairs, they have a lot of heavy wools, including double faced wool, which I absolutely love. They also have an entire aisle of wool boucle in different textures, weights and colors on the first level. Any of these fabrics would make an absolutely adorable peacoat or cape. They especially have a great selection of different plaids; and I don't just mean your standard red tartan. I'm talking pinks, purples, shades of grey and black... you name it. But before you run off to Elegant, you'll need to make sure you have enough money to purchase enough yardage. A yard of boucle will run you about $45 - $60, and that's also depending on the weight of the fabric you choose. You really have to scour the shelves if you want to find something under $45.
Now, if you're looking for something super warm and super luxurious, I might suggest going for faux fur or real fur (if you would prefer). I would definitely recommend going to Elegant first. A good percentage of the second floor is made up of both real and faux fur. I am much more amenable to using faux fur, which feels just as good as real fur and is a slight bit cheaper. I would also suggest that if you're going to be spending the money on fur anyway, to go with faux fur with woven underside. It's more expensive but holds up better when being used. A yard of good quality faux fur can run you up to $110. Elegant also carries real fur which is more expensive than the fake stuff.
B&J (7th Avenue on the corner of 38th Street, 2nd Fl) also has a decent selection of faux fur, as well as real fur and some skins if you want to buy suede or leather. They keep it all the way on the right side of the store. The pricing here is pretty much the same as at Elegant, and the selection isn't as big, but they do have some really nice things. Unfortunately, B&J does not offer swatching of fur or leather at all, and Elegant requires that you put a $10 deposit on any fur swatches. They keep the fur for swatching downstairs near the register.
My main advice before going shopping for your own coat fabric would be to have some idea of what you want before you go. There is such a wide variety of fabric contents, weights, and colors that it can be overwhelming to shop without any direction. I would also make sure that you go in knowing that you will have to spend a pretty big chunk of change; likely more than the amount you would spend to just run to Macy's and buy a coat. The advantage is that, in the end, you will have your own custom designed coat and reflects your style perfectly.
