I was so inspired by the Ottobre version I made for Ella that I knew I wanted to try this technique out on one of my own patterns. The jacket doesn’t fit Ella well, because it starts at size 92, and even graded down t an 86 it is too large. It’s also intended to have a fully buttoned front, but I really liked the look of it with a single button closure.
When a friend of mine was looking for a very special gift for a friend’s little daughter, I jumped at the chance to make this style my own.
I started with a nice basic shirt pattern for a little one (9-12 mos.) from a French book Everything for Baby that I like very much for baby clothes and accessories. I turned the opening around to the front. I curved the front opening slightly and added a nice overlap at the collar, just big enough for a button. Ella’s is a bit sloppy (not Ottobre’s fault! Mine! for doing suck a hack job trying to get a 2 year old into a jacket for more like a 3-4 year old!) and I made a celtic-knot inspired lace design for the sleeve detail. I am quite happy with how it turned out.
Forgive the picture quality – I was so excited to get these to my friend that I didn’t do a very good job of staging this jacket in a more appropriate setting.
I learned that I actually love to do handwork. Trimming all those scallops and cut-outs was a real joy!
Ella is watching Muzzy. She loves it. I discovered that the Vocabulary Builder DVD has 5 choices of languages, so she’s listening to German right now. J wants to learn German, since he works there so often, and despite my history teaching at Berlitz (German and French and ESL), I don’t know if I have it in my to teach my husband from scratch!
my dharma...work in progress 
gorgeous!!!
I love that colour and that little jacket is just exquisite!
This is just splendid!