Murrayed Life: Jacket Refashion

I found this adorable little hat for Katie at a thrift store, and it looks like something out of a production of A Christmas Carol. After seeing it, I just knew that she needed a little red coat to go along with it. I have a red pea coat that I thought about cutting up, but it's still a pretty good coat. Then, I came across this lovely blazer for $0.29 at Goodwill.

Shoulder Pads...boxy-ness...it was ready for a new life.

So I took the whole coat apart at the seams, and then took a coat that Katie is getting a little bit too big for, and used it as a pattern

I made the pattern using a paper grocery bag. It ended up being three parts--the back (one full piece), the arm, and half of the front. I tried to make sure that I kept some of the parts of the original coat together when cutting the pattern pieces out. Things like the collar and the pockets that might be difficult for me to sew alone I just re-purposed. I actually cut off about the bottom 10-12 inches off the bottom of the coat all the way across, and just gathered the bottom of the new coat.

This is probably one of my favorite parts of the coat. I was just planning on re-purposing the original lining of the coat, but then I found this fun leopard print minky fabric remnant, and I decided that it would be softer, warmer, and WAY prettier than the original stuff.

And, here it is! The best thing is that Katie loves it. She's using the pockets, which she's never done before in her life, and every time I hang it up, she's actually really sad about it. I've still got to get pictures of her in the coat, with the hat (good lighting would be best...clearly), but I'm really, really proud of how cute it turned out!