Wool Beret Sewing Tutorial (or fleece)

For years I’ve tried to find knitted hats to match my daughter’s winter coat. This year, since I have extra wool left over, I decided to make her a hat. Though I may try to felt a cloche hat someday, for now a simple beret will do. There are lots of tutorials and free patterns out there, but I want to make sure it fits, without using elastic or knit ribbing for the band. Using her head measurement, I’m drafting a pattern just for her. Each hat took about 1/2 hour to sew.

It’s simple math, really. For my pattern, I need to draw a perfect circle. To draw the right size circle for her head, I need to have a radius. To find a radius of a circle, knowing the circumference helps. Hop on over the math goodies website for additional circle, diameter, radius and circumference talk 🙂 Once I know the radius, I can use a compass (or a makeshift compass) to draw a perfect circle in the exact size I need. This can work for any size head, btw. Her head circumference divided by 2 pi, or r = C / 2π  . To avoid much complication, I will go with the value of pi being 3.14 😉  her circumference is 21, so 21 divided by 6.28, gives me a radius of 3.343949. Rounding, I get a manageable number of about 3 3/8 inches, since that is easiest to find on my straight edge ruler.

Now to make a perfect circle pattern with my radius. You can use the string method if you don’t have a compass. Tie a pencil to one end of a string, and pin the other end to a point on the paper, at the point where the distance between the pinned place to the pencil measures your radius . Swing the  the pencil around, drawing a circle.

I used my short straight edge ruler. I taped 2 pencils to it, the distance between them being my radius measurement. The kept one on the center point and spun the other around to make my circle. That is my inner circle. For the outer circle, I added 2 inches to my radius.  Make 2 templates for cutting out my fabric.

sew right sides together

clip seam allowances

turn hat right side out, smooth out curves

sew ends together of band piece, right sides facing, to form loop. Fold with wrong sides together.

Pin and sew band to hat, right sides together. I marked the band and hat into quarters. Pinned in together at these points and sewed them together using a slight zigzag and stretching the band to fit as I sewed.

Trim seam allowance

Voila, un chapeau!

Playing the milliner has been fun. I experimented with other designs…this one is worth sharing, I think. It’s a pleated beret. I ended up with 3 different hats and here’s how.   Begin by adding 3 inches to the original radius and only cut out the solid circle piece. My radius originally was 3 3/8, so my new radius was 6 3/8 inches.  cut band piece as I did for the classic beret. (3 inches by 21 inches)

Make pleats all along the hat piece.

Sew band piece together, with right sides facing, just as done for classic beret. Fold wrong sides together.

Pin to band piece to hat piece, right sides together, adjusting the pleats to fit, and allowing for a little stretch.

marking the hat and band into equal quarters, stretching brim to fit hat piece within each section as you sew

Sew  seam and trim seam allowances.

Adding 3 inches was too much in my opinion. The hat was a bit too floppy. My husband said it reminded him of Chef Brockett.  So I tried again using my original pattern piece for the classic beret ( radius plus 2 inches)

It fit more like a beanie and not at all what I had in my mind.

So my third attempt I found a middle ground, adding 2 1/2 inches to my radius (you know, that one I calculated from the circumference of the hat wearer’s head–way back in the beginning of this tute)

This looked much closer to what I imagined.

Now after all those fleece hat experiments, I turned back to the original goal: a wool hat for my daughter. I made a classic beret, but made a few changes, because the wool hat is a non-stretch fabric and I wanted it to look a bit more tailored.

First, I redid my pattern. The band will need to fit exactly, without the aid of stretch. When calculating this  radius, I  take into account seam allowances. So I draw a circle with a 3 inch radius, instead of 3  3/8 inch. I was also more careful about drawing my circles exactly. I used a rotary cutter to cut the fabric out, which seemed more accurate.

I cut my band piece on the bias to help it curve as I sew it to the hat pieces. I also cut the band piece 1 1/2 inches wide, so my hat could be a petite beret 🙂

I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to top stitch :). Top stitching added a bit to the completion time.

All said and sewn, it still ended up a bit big, in fact over an inch too large in circumference. In hindsight I realize I trusted my geometry skills and circle drawing, when I should have measured  and sewn the band to the desired circumference and made a new hat piece if it didn’t fit.

I did just that with the second wool beret. First I altered the  circle (pattern) to be slightly under 3 inches in radius. It is that center circle (the one that gets cut out to make a doughnut pattern piece) that matters most.

This finally did the trick and the hat should fit perfectly. I will try to update post with a better pic of classic beret.

Another possibility, instead of sewing a whole new hat, would have been to open the seam in the band on the inside of the hat. use a safety pin and feed some elastic into the band. Sew elastic ends together and slipstich the opening closed.

I also made up a pleated beret, which looked really cute using the wool. My daughter likes this one best.

Hope you enjoy these tutorials and get some quick hats sewn up 🙂

~Erin

A Doll Quilt

I have a confession: I am the only sewist in my family who has never sewn a quilt. I have sewn 2 twin sized quilt tops, but I have been extremely intimidated by the rest of the project. Plus I like things to be perfectly lined up and such. As far as I can tell, no quilt has perfect points in all its piecework–mine certainly did not. This bothers me. Many people tell me that is how it is.  Buying the batting and backing was as far as I’ve ever gotten toward finishing the tops into actual quilts. So there they sat, until they were donated to local sewing for charity groups. I love quilts and so I decided to start small. A sweet doll quilt for my daughter’s doll.

I am not going to pretend to know a lot about quilting. Just thought this design was quite cute and fast, so I thought it would be  nice to share. While browsing the internet for rag quilt inspiration (the only kind of quilt I was comfortable with), I came across a quilt on the Riley Blake blog. It called itself a disappearing  9 square, which uses a nine square. Well, I’d never even heard of a nine square, so I googled to find out more. I liked what I saw and decided to give it a whirl. It’s just a doll quilt after all. How much harm can it do me?

Here’s how I did it. Going against the advice given on several sites, I used 3 fabrics, not nine. Though I think 9 different prints looks great, I knew I wasn’t ready for that. I could see the quilt never getting done, because I would most likely pull out most of my stash and contemplate for hours which nine fabrics to choose.

To start, I cut 4  5 inch squares of two of the prints, and only one 5 inch square of the third print. Sewed them together into a 9 square block. Repeated for a second 9 square block.

Ironed all my seam allowances and then cut the block into four equal parts.

Then rearranged them. It can be done randomly, which my daughter is trying to teach me to be okay with. I’m definitely not there. Here are some of the possibilities for placement.

I chose and sewed them together.

Added borders. I needed 2 pieces 20 inches long for the sides I made them 2 1/4 inches wide. For bottom and top I needed 17 inches wide, and again made them 2 1/4 inches wide.

For the backing I needed 23 1/4 inches by 17 inches.

Here it is: my first real quilt. Real small, first quilt.

I used some pre-made bias tape for the binding, which I would have preferred a solid color. I just didn’t have enough of the color I liked best on hand and I needed to finish. It’s also nice to not always need to spend money to finish a project. This one was done completely from my stash. To hand stitch the binding to the backside, I used this really cool hand sewing stitch called an Invisible Ladder stitch–seemed fitting for a Disappearing nine Square quilt. A fellow sewing mama shared this link with me for a how to.

I also found an extremely helpful video tutorial, on Jay Bird  Quilts, which covered everything.  Really the only video/tutorial one would need–wish I had stumbled upon it before I started the quilt.

For the quilting, I think I got too bold. I wish I had just done straight stitching, such as stitching in the ditch. I had such grand intentions of making the back pretty, but soon realized I did not really know what I was doing, lol. Too late and too many stitches to pick out to switch mid way, so it is what it is 🙂

I had 2 squares from the 2nd nine square block left over, so I sewed them together, stuffed them, and created a throw pillow to match.

All in all this is a pretty quick project, especially if you’ve made quilts before and know what you’re doing. But it’s also very attainable for a novice, such as myself.

~Erin

Homemade Holiday: fun with felt

Felt is a great material to use for creating holiday decor or ornaments. It is easy for kids of all ages to work with and looks great, too. I try to have crafts ready for the kids to do in the weeks leading up to Christmas, as I find they want to be involved. I also like the non-commercialism of it. It’s my sneaky way of down playing the “shopping” and “getting”  in our society’s modern idea of Christmas.

I really wanted to make a felt “paper chain” garland for our mantel. An easy enough project to finish myself, but my kids could add to it or make their own. So I bought some felt and took my rotary cutter to it. I bought the heavy duty kind, so it would hold its shape better. Some colors only came in the thinner kind though.

cut 2 inch strips of each color.

Stacked the 2 inch strips, one of each color and cut them into 9 inch lengths

I started out sewing them decoratively by hand, which is a great activity for kids 🙂

use complimentary colored embroidery floss and needle to stitch ends together

I soon tired of it, so I pulled out the glue. Hot glue would also work 🙂 but kids certainly could do the embroidery work or craft glue independently.

glue makes this chain linked together in no time at all.

After making a pretty long chain for our mantel, and one for my friend’s mantel, I realized I had a bunch of felt left over.  First I made some felt rossets. Hot glued them onto felt, but haven’t decided whether to make them into napkin rings, center piece, or  perhaps a wreath.

Cut 2 inch strips into lengths of 12-15 inches long. Fold lengthwise and roll. Slightly push centers up from underneath, and hot glue them in place.

Add some leaves underneath to hide glue.

felt rosette

Still have a lot of felt, so I cut some 3 1/2 inch strips, and then cut them into 3 1/2 inch squares.

rotary cutting makes felt crafting way too easy 🙂

With these, I made a bunch of 3 inch circles.

trace stack and cut

Now there are many things one can do with a circle of felt…I’m just going to share a couple. The first is ridiculously easy–inspiration came from Land of Nod. I was inspired not to spend $30 plus shipping for a garland of these.  Works best if hand stitched and the thicker felt works best on these. The thin stuff looked awful with this particular project. Again, this is a great one for kids. To make each, you’ll use 6 felt circles, thread, needle, and a piece of ribbon (or yarn).

Start with 2 circles of felt. Sew them together straight down the middle. Fold top circle on top of itself and place a third circle on top. Sew down the middle, attaching it to the lowest circle that is unfolded. Clear as mud?

Repeat this process, so you have another set of 3. The sew them together.

sew the 2 sets of 3 circles together to make an orb of sort

I plan to have my kids make a whole lot of these and sew them together to make a garland. To make a garland, sew them together through the very centers. To make single ornaments, as shown, I attached ribbon to the top of the center circles. And of course, I forgot to take a picture of that step.

felt ball holiday ornament

Next up, with those handy circles already cut, I made these lattice spheres. These are a bit more time consuming, and better for older kids. For each lattice sphere, you’ll need:

6 or 8 3 inch thick felt circles (or 3.5 inch circles, or even 4 inch circles would do)

matching thread and needle

9 -12 inch piece of ribbon

18  beads for a sphere made with 6 felt circles, or 24 beads for a sphere made with 8 felt circles

If you like your crafts precise, then you may want to mark the center sewing line, as well as the points at which you will be sewing the beads on. Here is a photo to illustrate how you might do this.

divide into thirds for bead placement

Step 1 stack the felt circles and sew them together down the center.

stitch all felt circles together down center with matching thread (not contrasting as shown)

General: to sew beads on, begin by pulling needle through the two pieces of felt being sewn and first sew the felt together, then sew the bead on. This conceals the knot at the end of your thread in between the felt. Secure your thread by sewing an “x” before sewing the bead in place. End your stitching, by pulling needle through the middle of the 2 pieces of felt (to hide the knot).

For these steps I used pin and multi-colored felt circles to illustrate how it all works to create this look.Here’s the pattern:

Step 2: Sew the top felt circle together in the equator of your sphere (center).

Next sew the top circle to the one under it, this time in 2 places, closer to the north and south poles of your sphere. (3 red pins and 1 yellow pin)

Next sew  the 2nd to third layer of felt  circles– this time adding one bead at the equator. (blue pins)

Continue around your sphere, until all layers have been sewn together and have beads at the intersections.

Here is a close-up picture of sewing on of the beads.

Step 3: attach a ribbon to top, by folding ribbon in half, and  sewing folded end  in between the center 2 felt circles. Tie into a bow at top and hang it up!

Ta da!

Felt Beaded Lattice Sphere, using 8 felt circles, 3 inches in diameter

Beaded Lattice Sphere, using 6 felt circles 3 inches in diameter

This last ornament is a tradition of ours. We’ve been making them, mostly the kids, ever since my children were preschoolers. It comes from Sweden, I believe. We had Swedish neighbors who shared this tradition and paper craft  with us back then. The tradition is to make them out of paper and ribbon, hang them on the tree on Christmas Eve, and Santa will fill them with sweets during his yearly visit.

This is probably one of their favorite traditions. They recognize which ones they made and collect their treats that Christmas morning. It is also one thing that they are allowed to do before mom and dad get up and have a cup of coffee in hand. They are a bit tricky for very young children to weave, but with patience and help, they’ve always managed.

I decided to try making them out of felt this year, and it worked beautifully. I enlarged my template slightly, and cut them out of felt. The weaving went a bit easier than it does with paper.

A template is easy to make. Mine is 3 inches across the bottom (part where it is placed on fold line) and is 3 3/4 inches tall before the curve. To make curves, use a can or jar that is between 3 and  4 inches in diameter. Cutting lines for slits are 2 3/4 inches long and spaced a little under 3/4 of an inch apart.

cut 2 of template out placed on fold, and using 2 different colors

Begin to weave the folded ends ( make sure to keep them folded exactly in half, for best results). When you weave, you are not going under/ over, but rather inside each other.

white goes first in though the center of the red, the the red goes through the center of the white, all the way across.

Next strip does the same but starts with the opposite as the one before it.

feed red through the center of white first, then white gets fed through the center of the red

Do this with all four strips, moving the strips up toward the top, to make room for all four slits. Once done, straighten them all out. It should look like this:

from the side it looks like this.

Open up the heart at the top, and hand stitch the ribbon to the top center.  Sew an end of the ribbon to each side of heart, so it will hang evenly when filled with treats 🙂

Here  is the finished woven heart.

Swedish heart ornament, made with felt

Our mantel is looking extremely festive now. And my kids are interested in making some to hang on the tree as well, especially those Swedish woven hearts. I’m sure it’s not the idea of Santa leaving candy in them. Not at all. They’re just feeling merry.

a very festive mantel don’t you think?

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and all its tutorials. I sure had fun creating it.
Wishing for  your holiday season  to be a peaceful one!

Erin

Cream of Yukon Gold Potato Soup

I love soup, and have lamented for years that I could not make good soup.  But that is a thing of the past. Over the past couple of months, I have been experimenting in the kitchen, wandering way out of my comfort zone. This has proven to be a very good thing. Well, not all good. Just ask my victims my family. Trial and error, and many failed recipes later, I have  successfully made many soups. And I know they are pretty good when my husband and picky eaters ask for a second bowl. It seems many soups have certain things in common. Basic cooking elements or techniques that make a soup thick, creamy, or thin and light. Using these basics, I have come up with a couple on my own. I thought I’d share this one. It’s a creamy potato soup, using my favorite potato: the Yukon Gold.

You’ll need:

• 8 -10 Yukon Gold  potatoes
• 1 yellow onion
• 2-3 medium carrots
• 2-3 stalks of celery
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 12 oz package of bacon
• 4 cups of half and half (whole milk also worked when I tried it)
• salt and pepper to taste
• Garnishes: we used crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese, green onions, and sour cream. I think fresh diced tomatoes would taste great on this as well.

Peel and dice potatoes. You’ll need 8 cups worth. After making a few times, I found smaller pieces are better–bite size 🙂

Chop celery and onions. Peel and chop carrots. You’ll want about 2 3/4 cups to 3 cups worth of the 3 combined. I chop the carrots really small, so they are not easily dismissed and pushed aside–I am determined to get them to eat their veggies!

Set these to the side and fry up the bacon in a large pot.

cook all bacon until crisp. Do not drain bacon fat. Once all bacon is done, set bacon on paper towels. This will be the garnish.

Add veggies to bacon fat and cook for a few minutes. Onion should be clear and not browned.

Grab a wire whisk, and whisk in the flour. cook and stir for a few minutes. Flour veggie mixture should be a bit thick.

add the diced potatoes. cook and stir for 4-5 minutes.

Add broth all at once. Add pepper and salt to taste.

Bring to a low boil. Do this gradually over medium heat. Turn heat down to low and cook for 25 minutes, or until potatoes are done. The potatoes should be soft and easily cut when done.

With a potato ricer, mash about 3-4 cups worth of the potatoes. This gives the soup a thicker and creamier texture. I also was able to mash some of those bigger, non-bite sized pieces of potato this way.

Stir until all mashed potatoes are incorporated. Warm half and half in microwave slightly.  Slowly add half and half (or milk) while stirring. Allow soup to simmer for about 5-10 more minutes on low.  Serve with whatever garnishes each person likes.

We served it with this home made bread:

recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Along with my soup experiments, I have been on a bread making exploration. Who knew I could do all these things? We had no left overs the night this dinner was served 🙂

As a side note, this soup recipe is most certainly not the healthiest in the world. I am still working on ways to cut it down. Vegetable oil could certainly be substituted for bacon fat  and use turkey bacon for garnish. When we tried 2-3 tbsp vegetable oil in place of bacon fat, it did not taste nearly as good. So maybe it’s a once in a while treat?

Enjoy!

Erin

Sweet Little Skirts for Me and My Doll, a free tutorial from Avery Lane patterns

A sweet little skirt pattern tutorial from Avery Lane, make one for a little girl in your life and another for her dolly. These take very little time and are super cute.  Great for  quick gift giving!

●▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬●✿ Sweet Little Skirt ✿●▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬●

Here’s what you’ll need:

For an 18 inch doll:

cut a piece of woven fabric 5 ½ inches long by 21 ½ inches wide

1 piece of 3/8 inch fold over elastic 10 ½ inches long

optional: 5 inches of hook and loop fastener (such as Velcro)

15 inch Doll (such as Bitty Twin):

cut a piece of woven fabric 4 1/2 inches long and 21 1/2 inches wide

1 piece of  3/8 inch fold over elastic 11 1/2 inches long

optional: 4 inches of hook and loop fastener

For Little girl sized skirt:

✿ Skirt fabric: Measure from waist to the hem line on the little girl. Be sure to measure the place along her waist where she wears her skirts—for example: my daughter always wears her skirts a little below her belly button, so I would  measure around her waist a bit below the belly button. Measure to the desired length and add hem allowance to this measurement. For example a narrow hem only needs ½ inch for the hem allowance, so for my daughter whose finished skirt length is 12 inches and I would cut my fabric 12 ½ inches long. If you like more hem allowance, then you would add more to allow for hemming the skirt.

Cut your fabric the width of the fabric or 42-44 inches wide. So for my daughter I cut my fabric 12 ½ inches long by 42-44 inches wide.

✿Waistband: Measure your little girl’s waist, again where the little girl wears her skirts. Subtract 4 ½ inches from this measurement. For example: my daughter’s measurement is 24 inches, so I would cut my fold over elastic 19 ½ inches. This will fit in such a way that the skirt won’t easily slip down and won’t be too tight or uncomfortable.

For larger sizes, you should add more fabric. For example: a teen or adult  sized skirt should begin with double the width of fabric (88 inches), to be able to stretch the fold over elastic and have  enough gathers for a pretty skirt.

For doll skirt you can either add hook and loop fastener to back (method 1 for back closure), or sew a pull on skirt (method 2). For child’s skirt, follow instructions below beginning with step one and continue with method 2 directions, for the pull on skirt.

✿ Step One ✿

To begin, determine if fold over elastic has a wider side when folded. If so, when you sew the fold over elastic waist band have the more narrow side facing up (stitch directly onto narrow side to ensure the underneath side catches). You should work with the right side of the fabric facing up for best results.

Pin the edge of fold over elastic to one edge of fabric, so that you are attaching the fold over elastic to the long side of the fabric (the shorter sides are the center back and the length of the skirt – that would be 5 1/2 inches for the 18 inch doll skirt). If your fabric is directional, make sure you are attaching the elastic to the upper edge. You will fold the fold over elastic in half and place the fabric in the center of the two sides of the fold over elastic (sandwiched in between the folds of the fold over elastic). Stitch for about ½ to ¾ of an inch, so that there is enough fabric behind the presser foot to hold onto.

Now you will stretch the fold over elastic as much as you can. Keeping the fabric in between the folds of fold over elastic, hold in place on both sides of the presser foot (shown in photo below), keeping the fold over elastic stretched, and sew the fold over elastic to the upper edge of fabric, as shown. As you sew, make sure the fabric stays inside the two folds of the fold over elastic. Don’t pull the fabric through the machine, allow the feed dogs on the machine to move the fabric as it should. You are just making sure the fold over elastic stays stretched and is fed into the presser foot/sewing machine straight.

When I try new techniques, I like to practice on scrap fabrics before attempting it on my project fabric. You may try on some small scraps to get a feel for what you will be doing if this is new for you.

✿You can sew using a straight stitch, broken or multi-step zigzag stitch, or a regular zigzag stitch. Zigzag stitches are easier for most beginners, as it’s easier to make sure to catch the fold over elastic on the bottom this way. I like the look of the broken zigzag stitch 🙂 Here is what the waist band will look like with a broken zigzag stitch:

✿You will need to stop when your hand in the front reaches or nears to the presser foot. Make sure the needle is down, inside the fabric, when you stop. Readjust your grip, tucking the fabric back inside the fold over elastic if necessary, and continue sewing once you have a grip on both the elastic and fabric again.

Continue in this way until you are about 1 inch from the end of the fold over elastic. You will not need to stretch beyond this point, just make sure fabric is still tucked inside the fold over elastic.

Trim off any fabric not sewn into the fold over elastic.

✿Two methods for finishing the skirt from here ✿

Method one is an open back skirt, using hook and loop  closure.

Method two is a pull on skirt design.

●▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬●✿Method One✿●▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬●

Finish center back edges with a serger or zigzag stitch.

✿To Hem: Fold over ¼ inch toward inside of garment (toward wrong side of fabric) and press. Fold over again ¼ inch and press. Use a long, straight stitch to form hem.

✿Back Closure: Fold over one side of center back and press with hot iron. The other side will remain unfolded. Cut a piece of Velcro the length of the skirt (from top of waistline to hem).

Make sure the scratchy side of hook and loop (hook side) narrower than the soft (loop side). I use ½ inch wide for the soft side, and 3/8 inch for the scratchy side. This way the scratchy side is completely enclosed and the doll hair is less likely to get caught in it during playtime.

✿If you serged the center back edges, then tuck the serged thread chains under the Velcro. This keeps your dress/top looking neatly sewn.

Sew around all four sides of Velcro.

●▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬●✿Method Two ✿●▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬●

With Right sides together, pin center back edges together. Pin in place and sew the center back seam using a ½ inch seam allowance. Finish raw edges using a serger or zigzag stitch. Press seam allowances to one side. (optional: with sewing machine or hand needle, tack the seam allowance in place along just the waistband.

✿To Hem: Fold over ¼ inch toward inside of garment (toward wrong side of fabric) and press. Fold over again ¼ inch and press. Use a long, straight stitch to sew hem.

Hope you enjoy sewing this sweet little skirt!

~Erin

Tiny Tee shown on American Girl Doll is wearing a tiny tee–sewing pattern available here 🙂 Bitty Twin doll is wearing the Audrey Tee pattern available here 

The Burgundy Coat, finished

The wool coat has been finished.

The bound buttonholes are in and I’m pretty happy with them. Putting all the pieces together, I find that I must line the coat.  I really do not like the exposed seams as they look now. I regret not having the foresight to do different seam finished, but oh well. I took some photos of the bound buttonhole process. It takes more time and consideration, but I think with such spectacular fabric, ordinary button holes would  not do the coat justice.

apply interfacing on wrong side, organdy on right side. Measure, draw and stitch rectangles that will become openings — windows for buttonholes

cut inside rectangles to create openings

turn organdy and cut triangles to the inside and press

press windows open

Repeated all these steps for the lining. The lining needs to have windows for the buttonholes to function.

cut rectangles 2 by 1.5 inches, 2 for each buttonhole. RST sew two together with a long basting stitch, right down the center. Open and press so that right sides are showing

sew lips of button hole to triangles of buttonhole opening. start with sewing the two sides, then sew the top and bottom, keeping the center folds centered and straight.

When the lining and front are joined, the buttonholes line up. The windows in the lining are them slip stitched in place to the buttonholes.

Fully lining the coat worked well and here it is in all its glory.

 

As for a review of the pattern, I would say it is a great coat pattern. I would change the shape of the pockets or tack the top of the pocket lining in place. The boxy shape sags and gets bulky when hands are not holding them in place. Most pockets are more rounded and do not fold and get bulky like these do.  I also should mention the fit–though it fits her perfectly right now, I tried to size up for growing room. The photo on this pattern shows the coat not as fitted as mine looks finished. I traced up a size from her measurements and added some ease within the arm and chest. Had I just sewn her size according to her measurements and the pattern measurement/size  guide, then the coat would not have fit. The photo of the little girl on the pattern is a bit deceiving.

The most important things–I finished in time for her birthday surprise, and she absolutely loves it! It’s all good 🙂

I have left over fabric, so I think I will try to whip up a hat. Oh, how she loves hats. I have an idea for a hat, but want to test it on some muslin first. Wish me luck!

~Erin