Mackenzie Coat for Lilly

It´s been such a long time, that it's a little bit awkward to even be here. On my own blog :). I am out of practice, so maybe let's warm up with a short life update, that might explain to some extent my absence from this blog. 

There have been two big changes in my life in the past two years. First, we moved. We needed a bigger apartment really badly, because our previous one was already too small for three persons. And my crafty hobbies :). Second, Adam has got a little sister Lilliana (we mostly call her Lilly), who was born in November 2015 and she brought both - a lot of joy and many sleepless nights respectively. You know. A baby. Not very respectable towards my sleeping needs :)). Or any needs to be honest. I could only dream of sewing or crafting. Not even that, 'cause you need to sleep first to actually dream :)). 

Fastforward to the present. I am a staying at home mom of two very active kids at the moment. Which makes it very hard to steal some time for my hobbies, but I'd love to at least try it.

Having said that, I managed to sew something up and since this is a blog about sewing, let's get to it without further ado.

This is the first time that I made something from a pattern from Etsy. And the first time I made something for a non-adult person. A toddler. My daughter Lilly.

I purchased the pattern from an Etsy shop called "SewingWithMe1" and the pattern's name is "Mackenzie Gathered Jacket". (Just to be clear, I purchased the pattern with my own money and the shop owner doesn't have a clue about this blog post... ;)). 

The pattern is made for lighter fabrics, like cotton, at least that's what the pattern instructions call for, but I made a warmer version from fleece. Completely interfaced, ready for colder days.

It's an easy pattern, easily makable even for beginners I think. I cut the fleece, lining and interfacing at evenings and was able to sew the coat up within a day. I couldn't find any buttons that would suit the fabric, so I made my own, covered in the fashion fabric.

The pattern is pretty straightforward, so there is not much to say about it. I only followed the instructions "to be sure" after this long time without sewing, but even I (with only a little experience in sewing), could do without them.

And here is the result:

My daughter is 10 months old, but I made the size for 12 months olds. Lilly can't walk without holding onto something yet and I wanted to make it big enough to be able to see her walk and run around on her own in it :). I think the sleeves will be a bit long, but I knew about it beforehand and didn't shorten them, because she can wear the sleeves cuffed for some time, I quite like it.  

Overall, I am quite happy with the result. I am new at doing buttonholes, they used to intimidate me for some reason, so I need to work on that a bit, but other than that, the pattern came together nicely.

I plan to knit a hat to match the coat and maybe persuade Lilly to make a couple of pictures in the coat. She was not interested in a photo session today at all :).

Hope to come back soon and a HUGE thank you to everyone who still keeps following my blog or even started to follow me in my absence!

Until next time and happy sewing to everyone,

Zuzana