Bonnie Cashin: Mohair Coat Pattern & How to Make It

This bold and beautiful mohair coat by Bonnie Cashin for Sills looks as stylish today as it did when it was made in the late 60's. It's possible to copy and sew this rather simply constructed design to create a Cashin style coat to wear this winter. I first shared this colorful Cashin coat in an earlier post. This time I'll show how to draft a copy and show details used to construct it.

Bonnie Cashin: Coat Pattern Draft for Leather and Canvas Coat

Bonnie Cashin coats like this one in leather on canvas for Sills, have a very simple, easy to draft and sew pattern. To help in understanding this 'Noh' silhouette coat, I prepared a draft to scale that shows all details involved in this coat.

You can see in this photo that many of her 'signature' details are present: simple shape with sleeves cut in one with the body, leather bound edges (rather than hems), and brass twist looks (instead of buttons). This coat is lined in a cotton plaid twill. Usually a Cashin coat will have some sort of large and functional side seam pocket. In this case she applied a whimsical mock shoulder bag for each side of the body.

This draft is drawn to scale with one grid square to equal one inch. The leather trim creates mock shoulder straps that are about 1.5" wide. Rather than being straight, these straps do curve a bit at the shoulder. The big zippered 'purse' pocket is 13" across including the strap pieces. It is shifted slightly towards the front.

In this back view, the rest of the bag details are seen. The collar in center back is about 4.5" wide and 20.5" across from point to point. This collar is nearly straight, having only a slight curve to the neckline edge. There is a center back seamline.

This front view shows how the coat appears when worn and the close up view shows more details there.

The pocket has an industrial brazz zipper that is about 8" long. It is set into a slot to fit that is about 5/8" wide. The lower pocket closes with a twist lock. It is nearly 10" wide and 9.5" deep where it is 'framed' by the strap leather edge.

Here is a closer view of the front collar with it's twist lock, and the back view of this coat.

This pocket is inspiring, and I hope it gives you an idea or two for some custom sewing of your own. Don't overlook sewing with leather because it's not that difficult, especially as it is used here. A good used leather skirt could be savaged for leather, if you want to test this pocket for yourself.

For more on Bonnie Cashin Drawings and Photos--follow my Cashin board on Pinterest: Here

I have also published the following articles on Cashin in this blog, click on any title:

Cashin Coat Illustration from Spring 1966

Mohair Blanket Coat

Cashin Turn Locks and HERE

Knits and Girdles advertisement, 1961

Summer Coat, June 1950

1949 Coat Patent, Illustrated

This wonderful coat was purchased from Chelsea Harris, who curates "Femalehysteria"

Bonnie Cashin: Mohair Blanket Coat, Up Close

This 1960's Bonnie Cashin coat for Sills was found recently by Miss A who shared it with me in an excited text message. My respose: So when do I get to see it in person!. For me, coming across a Cashin coat in a vintage or thrift store is like finding a colorful sea shell on a wide sandy beach. Eureka!

This coat has that classic Cashin silhouette: kimono sleeves attached in one with the body. This allows that bold plaid check to continue out onto the sleeves without breaking up the graphic look.

But what stops the show here is a great, dramatic cape like collar. On closer study, it seems to have been inspired by a triangle shawl shape. Imagine folding a large square wool shawl into a triangle then draping it around your shoulders, over a coat. This has that same effect.

What pushes it over the top is that this shawl collar is cut from a wildly colored double cloth: fuzzy amber, orange and red colors on the outer mohair textured side with a blinding magenta pink and red on the other smooth surfaced side. That contrast is used to its advantage with this collar design since how its worn or draped can effect whether that contrast is seen or not.

Narrow suede trim binds off all edges. The coat is not lined, so that bright pink and red side is clearly seen when worn. Like so many Cashin wool coats, this one has roomy pockets in the side seams. It was designed with a very wide hook fastening at the neckline that at one time were covered in suede. The center front would hang loose and unfastened.

I will share the inner workings of this design and the technologies she used to create the look in my next post on this great coat.

If you are interested in seeing more designs from Bonnie Cashin, you will want to check out the links below:
Bonnie Cashin Online Resource, UCLA, Biography with Photo Archive
Bonnie Cashin, my Pinterest Board (a growing collection of images)