Chevron Jacket

When I saw that Project Run & Play was doing a chevron challenge, I knew I had to give it a try. My friend gave me almost two yards of this deco weight chevron fabric from Christmas and I'd been saving it for something special. I thought a jacket for my daughter would be a perfect reason to cut into it and PR&P gave me a deadline!

 I used this pattern by Shwin&Shwin for the jacket. First of all, let me just say that I absolutely love Shwin&Shwin designs! Their designs always impress me when I hold up my very stylish garment when I'm through! 

For this Chevron Jacket, however, I made a few additions to the pattern to gussy it up a bit -- pockets, piping, full lining, and a name tag. The pattern calls for a fleece outer, but I wanted to use my chevron fabric and have a spring-looking jacket, so a lining was a must. And pockets...what kid doesn't love pockets?? 

I also decided to only use fabric from my stash for this project. So I've got this rich mustard-yellow Kona cotton for the collar, sleeve bands, and button placket, but I had to go with a butter-yellow flannel for the lining. (I like the flannel, thinking the jacket will be that much warmer on early-spring, and late-fall days). 

But I didn't have enough yellow flannel for the sleeves and pockets, so I had to use a giraffe flannel print. Which, I actually quite like.

The Sharpie name-tag idea came from Caila (she used it on this gorgeous jacket for her daughter). The piping I had in my stash (not sure why...I don't remember using it before, but thought I'd give it a try here. I love the look of it!). And the last detail, the idea for this pink heart on the inside of the jacket originally came from Max California. I embroidered the words using a backstitch during an episode of Elmo!

Because I'm a little weird about clothes (both bought and made), I like to make them bigger than the size my daughter currently wears (which is a 4) so that she can grow into them and therefore use them longer. I might have overdone it this time by cutting a size 6. My kid is swimming in the jacket! But you might notice that in some of my pictures, the jacket fits quite well...on my 5 1/2 year old volunteer (eh-hem).

Maybe I need to make another one??

Anyway, my daughter will get use out of this jacket probably (hopefully?) next Fall or Spring 2014. Something to look forward to, right?

 hehehe, I love the look on her face in the last picture! She wanted to pose with that clementine, so I let her, but have no idea why she's looking so freaked out! 

Anyway, I had a great time making this jacket! And I really love the look of the chevrons on an outer layer! I'm really proud of myself for getting it done in under a week and for adding some extras to the jacket to make it our own. 

Check out all those other chevron-inspired garments at Project Run & Play this week! I'll be linking up there along with these other parties. Have a wonderful weekend!

Chevron Doll Cradle

 I am sure no one is sitting around waiting to see these pictures of my revamped doll cradle that I mentioned in my last post, but I figured I needed to get around to uploading them so that I could mentally move on, and start thinking about my next post. (which is a sewing project that I took pics of today!) So here they are: pics of my Chevron Doll Cradle.

 So I really wish I had some "before" shots. This cradle was so ugly -- shiny, dark brown, with icky dust stuck in all the corners and crevices. It was probably hand-made in the 70s and looked it. I picked it up at the Salvation Army sometime over the summer for about $5. (I think it said $10, but I was able to talk the lady down because it was in the furniture warehouse which was different from the retail part. Those ladies there are sticklers. Anyway.) So I spray-painted it this light bluish color, and then taped some masking tape on it in a chevron pattern. Then I covered all the surrounding areas with newspaper and spray-painted the visible parts white. Not bad, eh?

 I sewed this little cushion for the inside. Originally, I really wanted to do this gorgeous faux chenille blanket for the doll cradle, but the fabric was out of stock at the time and I figured I should just go with what I had in my stash to see how faux-chenille-ing worked (tough!).

Well, I imagined my daughter putting her Dolly in here and playing with everything, but so far, the cradle has remained sadly in a corner, ignored. (sigh) I look at it every so often and get a jolt of happiness because I love those chevrons...but that's it. Maybe someday she'll warm up to it. :)