A Warm Coat with McCall 6641

This bitty girl is growing all the time and she really needed a cozy winter coat, especially to wear over dresses on Sundays.  After making a winter coat for my big girl last year (found here) in this same fabric I thought it would be fun to see if I could make one for my two year old as well.  The length of plaid I had left was on the smaller side so a pattern with less design lines was in order. 

The Pattern:
Here enters McCalls 6641  sadly its now out of print, but its a straight forward pattern with minimal style lines which made it easier to match plaids.  One thing about the pattern that bears mentioning is that the facings on the front of the coat are designed as a kind of overlay rather than sewn as part of the lining.  That bugged me because its just less finished looking and messy so I redrafted the facings to be a part of the lining.  Sounds complicated but only a little more so and it makes the inside look so much better. 

I used the size 3 (she's 2 1/2) since that is as small as the pattern goes that's what I used.  The sleeves are a bit long and the shoulders a bit wide but its nice to know it can go through two winters especially since winters here are so mild.  

 We keep our dog's food in a small trash can and one of her jobs is to feed the dog.  This is how she spends about a third of her outside time, reaching down into that can to get dog food. 

The Fabrics: 
The fabrics are from Hancock Fabrics, the plaid from last year is a wool blend.  One side of the plaid is kind of fuzzy like mohair and that's the side I used for this coat.  I have to say that matching plaids is easier to me now that I've done it over and over and over.  If you're new to matching plaids I recommend this post.  It never hurts to have some good tips on plaid matching. 

I used a black fusible tricot interfacing that is very pliable on the cuffs, facings and collar.  I purchased mine at Joann fabrics but you can pick it up at Hancock's too.  Suffice it to say it is superior to the cheaper, stiffer interfacings I've used in the past.  I don't think I'll go back to the cheaper stuff anymore!

The contrast black fabric was bought out of necessity,  I ran out of the plaid fabric!  The black is a polyester suiting from Hancock Fabrics.  I wanted a wool blend but it was no where to be found so this had to do!  I also used it to make the fabric covered buttons.  One thing I have learned about making coats for children is that there's a lot of struggling to get the coat on and off and buttonholes may not always be a very prudent choice.  A better option is to sew in these large snaps.  

 This avoids the stretching out of buttonholes and is so much easier to put on and take off quickly. 

Here's a pocket peeking out!

Momma's made with love tag.

 Will she wear it?
Weelllll considering that she is 2 1/2 and doesn't like change she puts up a little fuss when I want to put this coat on her.  She now prefers the plaid cape I made her in the fall (since that's what she knows) but I think once the newness of this coat wears off she'll like it just fine. 

In all this is a simple and sweet pattern for a child's coat and I can see using it for many years to come- that is until she sizes out of it!  We get good wear out of little warm coats like this since I encourage them to wear them any chance we get- what I mean to say is that I don't save coats like this for Sunday, we wear them on a daily basis if its cold enough.  The fabric is durable enough and its just so fun to see them in handmade garments.   
 

 

She loves to pull the berries off the trees and "feed them to the birds."