Workshop · 14 September 2026 · 5-minute read
From pattern to coat: eleven hours of work
A lined wool coat passes through four pairs of hands in our workshop. We follow the long wool coat to show where each hour goes.
The ÜLGÜ workshop
The pattern: 23 paper pieces
Every style starts from a paper pattern. The long coat’s has 23 pieces: fronts, back, a two-piece sleeve, collar, pockets and lining. Rana, our pattern cutter, draws it in size M first and then grades it up and down to the other four sizes.
The first sample is sewn in plain calico and tried on three people. This coat’s shoulder was changed twice: it gained 1.5 cm so that it sits easily over a thick jumper.
Cutting: 1 hour 40 minutes
One coat takes 2.9 metres of wool cloth and 2.4 metres of lining. Before cutting, the cloth is steamed and left on the table overnight so that it does not shrink later. On a checked cloth the check has to meet at the seams, so the charcoal coat takes 25 minutes longer to cut than the ivory one.
Sewing: 7 hours
One seamstress sews a coat from start to finish and writes her initials on the label inside the lining. The longest work is the collar and the shoulder: a linen layer is fixed under the collar by hand so that it keeps its shape years later.
Buttonholes are made by machine, but the buttons are sewn on by hand with a shank: the cloth is thick, so a button has to stand 3 mm off it.
Pressing and checking: 2 hours 20 minutes
The finished coat is shaped on a steam form, then every seam is pressed on its own. The checker goes through 14 points: the sleeves may differ in length by no more than 3 mm. A coat that fails goes back to the seamstress’s table.
