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Downsizing and Making the Siberian Parka with a Front Opening

January 01, 2019 1 Comment

Elizabeth, who has worked with Folkwear patterns for many years, has to down-size or otherwise adjust every pattern of any brand name to fit her petite figure. While she is at it, she usually applies her creative talents to make the "new" garment extra special. One of our favorite versions of our 153 Siberian Parka is a winter white wool melton blend that she made, downsized and added a front opening to.

One look at it and you'd know you would never be cold if you were wearing this!

To downsize this over-sized parka, she first removed the outer shoulder yoke piece and moved the front and back side seams in to eliminate a few inches of girth. Removing that shoulder yoke piece simultaneously shortened the sleeves, which was perfect, because she wanted to add cuffs.

Elizabeth also wanted to add a front opening rather than have a pull-over parka. So, she sliced down the center front and added a full-length separating zipper for easy on-off. To embellish this new front, she added some half buttons that look like they have been sliced down the middle, and embellished the entire coat with some decorative machine stitching in metallic thread, by itself and to attach various cordings and faux suede strips.

Line drawings of 153 Siberian Parka without alterations. You can see the design is large and pull-over, making it very warm!

We'd love to see and hear about the special touches that you may apply to this pattern. It is quite cozy and indeed very roomy as well. I really enjoyed wearing the version that Elizabeth created. However, I am not categorically "petite" and there was still a good bit of room even with the alteration.