Mrs. Claus Westie Coats

In December, we saw lots of nice Christmas coats and sweaters worn by our Westie and doggie friends on Facebook, so of course Keli and Penny wanted new Christmas coats, too. They haven't had any new Christmas 'clothes' since their Barkettes dresses in 2008! Since they were going visiting with us on Christmas Day, we came up with these Mrs. Claus coats.

We've used this pattern, Butterick 4885, a few times before - remember their Pink Hoodie Slickers and Fance Winter Coats? They hate the hoodies, but still wear the winter coats whenever it gets really cold.

And the first time we used the pattern was for Penny's first fleece coat with furry pink trim. She grew out of that one pretty quickly!

One of the ready-to-wear coats we saw online looked like it was made of red velvet fabric with white fur trim and snowflakes embroidered on the back. But it had sleeves and my Pesties HATE anything with sleeves.

We found red Soft N Comfy fabric at JoAnn Fabrics, which is soft and velvety, just like minkee fabric. For the white trim we found remnants of white Ultra Cuddle fleece at JoAnn's. It resembles short fur, and is soft and warm; AND both knit fabrics are machine wash and dry - easy laundering is a very important feature for our Westie clothes!

Since we've already made all the necessary size alterations to the patterns on the previous versions, cutting out and sewing the coats was pretty easy. We used View D of the pattern because that version of the design already has trim at the tail end of the coat.

I had planned to embroider snowflakes on the back of each coat, but since I didn't actually begin these until the night before Christmas Eve, there wasn't enough time to add that step.

Both girls were sound asleep by the time I was ready to have them try on their coats; they were very cranky when I tried to wake them up to check the size and refused to even sit upright. The velcro on the straps wasn't even sewed on until Christmas Eve morning, when they were more cooperative models.

Keli's coat fits her just right, but I think I would make the white trim section at the tail end a bit shorter, since the proportion seems just a bit off.

Penny's coat fits her nicely, too. Like Keli's, the proportion of the red/white fabrics could be adjusted an inch or two on this one to make it more Claus-like. 

I didn't have time to do the final top-stitching around the edges before Christmas; I may add that later.

And maybe for next Christmas we'll jazz up both coats by adding ribbon trim to the back. Or maybe some 3D snowflakes....

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Wow! Blogger says this is my 300th post! That's a lot of projects blogged over 4-1/2 years!

Christmas Westie T-shirt

It's been a while since I sewed something for me! This project was a quick 'make-over' of a purchased ready-to-wear t-shirt; it was almost a no-sew project, LOL! 

I stumbled upon the gray long sleeve t-shirt with the Westie screen print in Macy's Charter Club department while shopping in mid-December. Somehow, whenever there's a Westie printed, stitched or otherwise depicted on something in a store, I ALWAYS seem to find it.

The first photo shows the t-shirt 'before' I embellished it. Doesn't it look plain? The little red bow already had the beads stitched on it when I bought it, but it needed something else to make it special.

Of course, I needed to wear this for Christmas, so it had to be spruced up a bit. The red loopy fringe was in my stash and I thought it was perfect to add to the front at the neckline and around the wrists. The 'after' photo is much more festive, don't you agree?

I pre-soaked the red trim to make sure the color would not bleed onto the t-shirt later.

To attach the fringe to the shirt, I applied 1/4" wide wash-away adhesive tape to the neckline, then carefully placed the trim. Using a long stitch and a stretch needle, I sewed slowly, following the stitching at the top of the trim.

Each sleeve was done in a similar fashion, but I turned them inside out while sewing. And stitched even slower because the fringe loops kept getting in the way!

If I change my mind, I can change the look by removing the trim easily enough.

Christmas 2011: Pretty Purple Capelet and Boston B Insulated Bottle Carriers

I didn't make too many Christmas gifts this year, and didn't have a chance to start working on them until a few days before Christmas Eve.

This Pretty Purple Capelet is a project that's been in progress for quite some time. The purple furry velboa has been in my collection for a couple of years, waiting for just the right project. 

I knew it would be made into something for my niece who loves purple, but I wasn't sure what until I found the pattern for McCall's 4703. I thought a pretty capelet to wear for dress up would be perfect.

It wasn't hard to find matching purple lining, but choosing the right button was a little challenging. It had to be fit for a princess and not fade into the purple fur.

When I found a faux crystal button that looks like a large diamond, I thought it was the perfect gem.!

I remembered to add one of my fabric labels to the inside self facing.

The capelet is a Girls' size 8, which is probably a little big, so hopefully she'll have few years to wear it! My photos show the capelet draped on my adult size dress form - I don't have a child size form.

I've written a review of this pattern on PatternReview.com.

We gave gift cards to all of our nieces and nephews this year and each one was 'wrapped' in either a gift card holder or ID wallet made earlier this year.

I made this special penguin gift card holder with a matching purple scarf to go with the capelet!

Believe it or not, two of my nephews still had not received insulated bottle carriers from me - until now. They each received one of these red carriers embroidered with a Boston "B". Also included for each one is a reusable water bottle, one red and one blue. The carriers are large enough to fit an Aquafina 1 liter bottle, too.

ETA:  The Boston B machine embroidery design file is available from Stitchmouse on Etsy.