All right, maybe she didn't need one, but once I got my hands on this luscious chocolate-brown faux fur I knew I needed to make her one. And now that the winter blahs are settling in, what better than a new coat for a pick-me-up? Just in time for Valentine's Day too. Pretty and girly with a surprise pop of color inside. So snuggly-warm and cozy too. (I want one for myself!)
I've been seeing a lot of faux-fur related projects out there and I guess I caught the bug. Someone offered up over 2 yards of this faux fur on my local Freecycle group and I jumped all over it (free, baby, free. This coat cost me $0!)
How did I do it? First I consulted this pattern by Shwin&Shwin for the 5/6 sizing of the body and arms. Then, I referred to this free and totally awesome pattern also by Shwin&Shwin for the construction (isn't that little baby coat of hers cute, not to mention that little baby??). I have never made a coat before and have wanted to for a few months now. It really was not as hard as I thought it would be. What helped was that I'd completed a couple Explorer Vests a while back and that basic construction practice really proved useful for doing a coat. See? Every project helps, all that experience gets put to use at some point.
I had this pretty pink and orange cotton fabric in my stash. I was saving it for something special and knew this was it. I chose to make two hidden buttons to have clean lines on the outside, but sewed a tiny pink button on the outside for fun. I figured this should look less like an old-lady fur coat and more like a little girl's fur coat (my husband disagrees...).
Now I'm trying to figure out what to do with my leftovers (I have some black in the stash too!). The collar was the trickiest part here (all that fur kind of made my sewing machine a little grumpy) and I ended up having to patch some holes in a couple places by hand. But I think they'll be OK. Is the coat perfect? No way. But is it good enough? Yeah, I think so!
My daughter wore it out this afternoon for the first time on her way to dance class. I am not sure why she's looking so serious in this picture.
This is more like the kid I know!
So happy to have another "new" project under my belt. And what a fun one too!
I'm linking up with Project Run & Play this week for their Valentine Inspired theme. Though there are no hearts on this particular garment, she'll be wearing it all month long to ward off the New England chill and pretty up the gray days. Thanks for reading and stopping by. :)