My favourite everyday puffy winter coat is still going strong after 6 years apart from one thing: the padding inside the collar has worn out and split apart so there’s no insulation at the back of my neck.

I don’t believe in ‘disposable’ fast fashion and I really like this coat, so I put up with it last year. I wondered if there was a way to access the inside of the collar from an unobtrusive spot so I could add some more insulation, but couldn’t find a hidden place to open a seam. But yesterday, I decided that there’s no reason to suffer with a cold neck: I needed to get brave and fix this coat!

In the above photo, you may be able to see there’s an almost-invisible seam around the outer edge of the collar (and note the lack of insulation between my hands). Although it’s a very obtrusive place to do my surgery, that seam seemed like the most likely place to be able to get inside the collar.

The stitches are exactly the same colour as the fabric, so I had to be very careful to only cut through stitches and not fibres of the fabric with my seam ripper.

Once I’d cut through a couple of stitches, I was able to unravel more of the seam until I had a hole large enough to access the inside of the collar.

I grabbed some of my usual fibrefill stuffing (it’s not just for amigurumi!) to fill out the collar, and although I knew I didn’t want to overstuff the collar, it took a lot more than I’d expected…

But once the collar was fully stuffed, I tried on the coat before I stitched the opening closed and quickly realised my mistake: the collar was so full that I felt like I was being strangled when the coat was fully zipped!

So I pulled out about half of the stuffing I’d added and spread the remainder thinly and evenly so there are no empty spaces. I tried on the coat again, and it was much better. Warm neck, no strangling (always my preferred state when I wear a coat…)

All that remained was to close the hole neatly, as it was in such a visible location. I found the closest colour match in my thread collection and mattress stitched the opening closed.

When I’d finished, you could barely see where I’d cut it open, so I’ll call that a success!

Now my collar is nicely padded again. It’s intentionally a very cozy snug fit, as I know the stuffing will compact with use so I thought it was better to be more generous than less.

The real test will be whether the stuffing shifts over time and leaves the back of the neck with no insulation again. But now I know I can access the interior of the collar, I already have a plan in place if that happens: I can open a longer length of the seam, pull out the stuffing, and use a piece of quilt batting inside the collar instead – that will definitely do the trick!

Now I’m confident that I can get many more years’ use from this coat – and my wallet and the environment will both appreciate that 🙂