The Uptown Girl Jacket

Well Winter has well and truly arrived. It's been freezing here this last week so I'm pleased to have finished my daughter's new Winter jacket.

It's the Uptown Girl Jacket by Make It Perfect. I have a real soft spot for this as I bought the pattern when it was released a year ago and at the time, had never used a sewing machine or sewn anything more complicated than a softie (by hand). I remember telling my mum 'I am going to learn to sew and will make it for Sweetpea next Winter'. And here I am!

The pattern is deceptively simple. The construction is pretty straightforward and it actually takes longer to cut out all the fabric than it does to sew it up. It has a few lovely design details that really add to the overall look, like the gathers.

As it gets pretty cold here I made a few amendments to make the jacket more practical. Firstly, I used a wool/cotton blend batting instead of the recommended adhesive pellon (thanks Jen for the tip) and secondly, I included fastenings all down the front instead of just one button at the top, to keep Sweetpea extra snug.

I had intended to used buttons and buttonholes as the fastenings but my machine would not cooperate - the jacket was too thick with the batting - very dense - and the cotton canvas fabric I used (more on that later). So after MUCH to-ing and fro-ing, I decided to use magnetic snaps, with fabric covered buttons on the outside of the jacket for decoration only.

The snaps worked really well. They were simple to put in (although they would have been simpler had I decided to use them when constructing the jacket, rather than afterwards, I got to know my unpicker pretty well), they're strong, and they're simple enough for my two year old to do up and undo.

I used fabric from Japanese designer Hokkoh's Market Fresh collection: Market Flowers in Pink for the outer and Playful Dots in morning for the lining. It took me ages to decide whether or not to buy these fabrics. I loved them online, but was worried the pink would be too bright and that the cotton canvas would be too stiff and heavy for such a small jacket. I was really delighted when the fabric arrived. The colours were more muted than expected (in a good way!) and the fabric was really soft, but durable. It washed up beautifully too.

I really love this jacket... So much that I've gone out and bought Sweetpea a parka to wear to daycare, as I can't stand the thought of this jacket getting covered in paint, as her daycare clothes invariably do!


The finished jacket. The covered buttons are decorative only.


I used magnetic snaps (intended for bag making) as the fastenings.


Detail of the snaps.


Love the lining!


Sweetpea trying it on for size.

The Flipsy skirt

Two posts in one day, go me!

Here's my latest little project, the Flipsy Skirt from Make it Perfect. It's another reversible project and as usual I spent waaay too long trying to decide which fabrics to use. In the end I decided to use up the rest of my Sandi Henderson Medallion Bloom in pink (gosh I'm boring) along with a print called High Tea from Michael Miller. The tea print was an impulse purchase from the fabulous Hawthorne Threads and I was really pleased when it arrived in the post as I liked it much better in real life than on the web. It really suits my little girl who is always hosting little tea parties and offering everyone a 'cup of teeeeeaaaaa!'. The third fabric I used was a green polka dot from Michael Miller that coordinated pretty well with the other two fabrics.

The skirt itself was very quick and easy to sew, although I didn't have much patience for sewing and then attaching the belt loops (10 in total). They were so narrow that the feed on my machine had trouble picking them up, and then attaching them with the tiny buttons (I used translucent pink) was tedious.

Speaking of belt loops, you'll notice that the belt is nowhere to be seen. I haven't actually made it yet - no excuse other than laziness! It's the same green dot fabric and I have promised myself I'll get it done this weekend!


Side one: medallion bloom by Sandi Henderson. Love this, but I have a real soft spot for...


...this side! High Tea by Michael Miller house designer.


Sweet pea modelling the first side


And the second side. She told me she was 'so cute' in this one, as only a two year old can.


The skirt with the hat I made last month. Just wish I had the foresight to use the high tea fabric for the reverse of the hat.

Lazy day hat

I'm a bit behind on the blog, this is a hat I made about six weeks ago. I feel terrible as I initially bought the pattern to make for my son, but so far have only made one for my daughter (my excuse - my son's six month old head is growing at a rapid rate and I don't want to 'waste' the cute fabric I bought to make him a hat that he will outgrow before next summer).

The pattern is the lazy day hat by Make it Perfect. It's a great pattern and is pretty forgiving of some dodgy, messy sewing from me. I suspect I'll be using it a lot over the coming years. As it is my daughter goes through about 3-4 hats per week... the ones she wears at home get covered in vegemite/dirt/crayon, and the ones she wears to daycare get covered in paint. The constant washing wears them down a bit.

As the hat is reversible I used two fabrics from Sandi Henderson's Farmer's Market range - the pink medallion bloom and the stripes. I adore these fabrics! In hindsight, using a striped fabric on a round hat was never going to work, so my daughter just wears the hat one way. The stripes do look cute peeking out from the 'lining' though.

I'll definitely be making more of these hats. I am picturing hats to match my daughter's dresses next summer, and of course I have two hats ready to sew for my son next summer, one with little frogs and one with rockets and aliens.


Although it's reversible, my daughter only wears the hat this way. Just love that fabric!


And this is why... those stripes on the round hat make just aren't right.


But they do look cute peeking out as the 'lining'.


My little sweet pea wearing the hat on her way to the merry-go-round on her 2nd birthday.