Welcome back Winter! I have a coat for that!
Hello world, it has been a while since I made a blog post. I have had a lt of crazyness going on. I am actually hoping to be on a different blogging platform soon. ANYWAYS! You see that wonderful smiling girl up there? That smile was because she finally got to play in the snow again. I live in VA and we have been having some especially wonky weather. A week or two ago, just about the whole of the east coast was dealing with a major blizzard. I think the last time my part of VA was hit with a blizzard was 2009.
Thankfully though, I was in the middle of testing out this amazing coat pattern! Twas indeed PERFECT timing. We had our ups and downs with this test. The first one I did I ended up scrapping. Not due to pattern error but operator error. There is an option on this coat to do bound button holes. I had never done them before. I took a look at a few youtube videos and read through Ajaires instructions. I felt like I would have no problem with this. Stupidly I decided lets just jump right into doing this on the coat that I slaved over. Oivey! I should have done a practice run. Needless to say they looked like a hot mess. So I went through my stockpile and found this amazing rose and skull fabric. I dug out some matching colors and got to work on the second one.
This is definitely intermediate to advanced level sewing here. Coats in general I think really are. Unless you are doing a super simple blazer type deal from a designer who has a SUPER simple lining procedure. If you are just starting out, this will be a great pattern to put into your stockpile for a later date. I really need to start following my own advice as well. As a sewing mama diva and a pattern designer myself, I know how important measuring is. For this test I didnt think it was all that important to measure boos arms. I measured her chest and ended up doing a size 3. In reality I should have done a 3 for the overall fit, and a 4 on the sleeves. Due to my error my sleeves ended up not going the entire length of her arm like they should have. As you will notice in my pictures, you can see the sleeve of her shirt goes to her wrist and the sleeve of the coat does not. Lesson learned! Next time I will size up on the sleeves. Not all kids will be one straight size.
She had a blast in the snow though.
At this point you are probably like... whats up with the body of this coat? lol. WELL..... I had this brilliant idea to make it water proof with some plastic I had from joann. The main body was easy to work with, then I got to the sleeves. I realized that wasnt going to work so well. SO only part of the coat has a plastic cover. So if you want to go that route I suggest laminated cotton.
This coat is great though. I cant even say enough great things about it. There are 4 different views. 2 for the girls and 2 for the boys. Both genders you can choose a dramatic color (the one that I did), or a regular collar. There is a slim fit and a version with pleats for added fluffy cuteness. For the pockets you can add a pocket flap or leave it off if you choose. I tried to get a good picture of the side so you could see the pocket flap, but ya know.... 4 year olds.... There is a sash that can be done 2 different ways. You can do a regular sash that you tie in a knot to close the coat up. You can also do a shorter sash that uses buttons as a closure instead of tying it. You can do bound button holes or regular buttons.
(I know this is a long review. Bear with me guys! So much information!!)
Lets take a text break and see some cuteness. :)
I got a little carried away with the matte overlays in editing lol. oops.
Overall I am extremely pleased with this pattern. Ajaire fills her tutorial with as much info as she can give you. I am really glad that I had the chance to be a part of this test. I already have my stuff picked out for the next one. One that I will measure properly for, and NOT use plastic on. When I get that one done I will take better pictures and do a blog update. Hopefully on my new platform. I hope that I have given you guys all the information that was floating around in my head. I should have made a list. How about one more photo?
See what I mean with the matte? Whats done is done lol.
Make sure that you go and join the Call Ajaire pattern group on facebook. Join and you can get a special coupon code to purchase this awesome pattern with! Say what?! You can find it here
This pattern is on sale for $10, but you can get it for 15% off in the Etsy shop with the code MACK15. psst.. dont forget to join the group on FB during the release period. Extra savings! Stay tuned for more coats, and more pattern reviews.
