Quote Originally Posted by MDR-V300
And bubba, I'm making a coat right now as well, and it's a lot scarier for me than a kilt because there's so much more cutting involved. Cutting is so permanent.
Try making a muslin first. A muslin is very cheap fabric made into the garment and just tack stitched together with large seam allowances so you can adjust the fit. Once you have the fit you trim excess fabric leaving a decent seam allowance and disassemble it to give you a pattern. It saves you from ruining the good fabric. Another option is find a jacket that fits you well in a thrift shop and disassemble it and take measurements so you can trim any pieces that need to be trimmed. Either way it gives you pattern pieces to work from cheaply.