. . . And the second

I finally got Lauren's costume done last night. The coat was done in time for her party on Sunday, but she was unhappy not to have the hat or boot covers.

The picture that she referenced was this one, Pokemon Trainer Dawn. I decided that a basic double breasted pea coat was the way to go:  Simplicity 2534.

I had hoped to use fleece, because it's easy to work with and pretty warm. And although the vest pattern suggests fleece for the vest, it suggests denim, corduroy, or wool for the coat/jacket. I realized that's because you need to interface the front of the coat/jacket, but not the vest. You can't iron interfacing onto fleece.

When we went to get fabric I realized that there is a dearth of light pink wool/cord/denim at JoAnn's in October. Go figure. Lauren said that the color was the most important part, and I saw her point.  There was some light pink quilted fabric, but I thought it would be too bulky in front, it was $10/yard, and I didn't have any coupons. Finally, I thought, "I'll use that sew-in interfacing I have down in the basement." We grabbed the bolt of anti-pill pink fleece (already 50% off, score!), and were on our way. Since fleece is so wide, I only had to get two yards.

When it came time to put it together, I managed to get most of it done in about three hours. Cut it out, sew the side seams, gather and attach the bottom, put on the front, put in the sleeves. Then I stopped. I decided I wasn't going to line it. I still had to put in the front facing, top  stitch it, and do the buttons & buttonholes.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to that last bit until a few hours before the party. Attaching the front facing was fine, and top stitching was fine. Then I got to the buttonholes. I have an automatic buttonhole foot, and it worked fine for Sarah's coat, although it took me a while to remember how to use it. But when I tried it on two thick layers of fleece, it wasn't working. It wasn't moving smoothly over the fabric, and got stuck.  I hate having to rip out button holes and start over--it's hard on the fabric, and it's hard on me.

Gotta catch 'em all!

I remembered that I had some Velcro left over. I sewed it in, and then sewed the buttons on top. It's not as nice as if it had proper button holes, but it was DONE, and we could go to the party. Of course, then there was the issue of what she would wear under it, and as it turned out, she took it off for most of the party anyway.

Yesterday, I stopped to get some white fleece for the hat and boot covers, I thought. I forgot that the boot covers were supposed to also be pink. It was a very near thing, but I had just barely enough pink scraps left to make rough boot covers. The hat is a simple tube; I hand stitched the designs on the front, and also hand stitched the back closed. I think the back looks a little odd, but Lauren says it's right for the picture. OK, she's happy, so I'm happy. And I'm done with Halloween this year, so I'm VERY happy.