My House Coat IS Copenhagen

My mom was with our family in Copenhagen when the Covid-19 pandemic was getting more and more serious, and the reality of a full-on lockdown hit. We figured it would be much more fun to be part of a bubble of five instead of our family of four in Copenhagen and one (my mom) in the U.S.  

It was a strange time for everyone—we were all home, all of the time. We began cooking more, talking more, watching TV together more, and my son, Teodor, got into baking, which meant fresh cookies on an almost weekly basis. YUM!  

With little else to do, my mom started knitting again. And the pattern she happened upon launched a house coat project that the two of us eventually collaborated on during our time in lockdown. 

Sex and the City (Copenhagen, Not New York) 

I have an unnatural obsession with Sex and the City. Those who identify will have no problem understanding that I have rewatched the series more times than I can count and that I have listened to every podcast available recounting and rehashing every episode. It is a true obsession!  

Five years ago, it suddenly dawned on me that it was not only that I identified with the characters and their lives, but I was watching and rewatching it for that fifth character … the fashion. So much so that I have started picking up pieces from the show as a part of my own collection of clothes and accessories: The Monolos from A Woman’s Right to Shoes, the Gucci belt bag from Time and Punishment, the Fendi baguette from What Goes Around Comes Around, and most recently, a perfect replica of her iconic fur coat (don’t judge me! I bought it from my favorite antique shop—an estate sale item). 

I am just getting started, but when I embarked on this project with my mom, I realized that my design ideas were also being inspired by this series. The oversized, overly chunky sweater Carrie is running around the city in in The Real Me with every color imaginable was exactly what I wanted, but in a version that made sense to me. 

What better way to spend our time together in lockdown—my mom would knit the houses and I would develop a pattern for piecing them together.

So, when I saw my mom knitting away on the Copenhagen Building Blocks by @boy_knits_world, a replica of the Nyhavn buildings, I immediately got an idea—What if we pieced them all together and made a literal “House Coat”? 

Transforming a House Into a Coat 

I knew my mom and I worked well together, she complements me in so many ways and, most important, I trust her more than anyone else on earth. I experience this every time she edits my writing, not only is she professional and talented, but she is honest and direct. And she approached this project with the same energy. Yes, she is a hard worker and does not rest until the job is done. I am still striving to be as productive as her!

So, it will come as no surprise that when I said we needed at least 34 houses to complete my vision, she just got to work and didn’t stop until she had knitted them all. It is that kind of diligence I wish I could bottle for myself sometimes, but being around her keeps me on my toes, and I soak it up!  

My vision for the pattern was inspired by the patchwork coats from the 2017 Christian Dior winter collection. There had to be a way to piece these elements together and still maintain the integrity of the fact that they were separate houses. I didn’t want to lose the shape of the houses, which is why I decided they should be patched together and not knitted together in one continuous piece. 

As we continued to work on this together, we both fell more and more in love with Copenhagen and its uniqueness, as reflected in the design. It was truly a collaboration, and a partnership that paid off.

The result was inspired! We are still fighting over who gets to wear it first and have moved on to a new design with another, very Danish, type of house—a thatched-roof farmhouse. 

If you are interested in the original Copenhagen Building Blocks pattern, click here, or if you would like to special order a handmade coat from me and my mom, please send an email to annalisa@comfortablewardrobe.com.