Good morning! Over the years we’ve perfected the last-minute micro-vacation, and this past weekend we drove out of Seattle to a small mountain town called Cle Elum. I snagged the last room at the Snowcap Lodge (aka Best Western), and though K declared that it was no Comfort Inn, we thoroughly reveled in the rare experience of snow everywhere.

It was beautiful up there – frigid but serene.  But I’m not here to regale you about our budget trip just outside of the city. Do you see it?? A puffer jacket?? I did it, friends.

After browsing through the various options available (thank you for the suggestions!), I ordered the Puperita Tiger Hoodie. I liked the basic shape with a full lining, and the simple zipper insertion seemed entirely manageable. I figured it would be easy enough to make it into a puffer.

I started by cutting out the size 10, and meant to add several inches to the length, but K said she wanted it “short-ish”. So short-ish it was. Then I proceeded by quilting the water-resistant black fabric layered atop generic poly batting. The front pieces have diagonal lines; the sleeve and back piece have horizontal lines. This step was a piece of cake. The velour/minky-esque aqua lining fabric was a shedding monster, though. It was as though Elsa let loose in a Frozen fury in my sewing area, and I spent far too much time cleaning up the aqua fluff.

I attached knit ribbing for the sleeve cuffs as per instructions, but made a bunch of other changes: instead of the cool pockets that came with the pattern, I drafted my own and made them inseam. K sighs with happiness every time she slips her hands in the pockets. “So soft…” she murmurs. I also added faux fur trim to the hood, and thankfully the faux fur didn’t shed nearly as much as the lining fabric. As for the hem, I was supposed to fold the outer fabric over to the lining side, but I skipped that extra effort and simply sewed the hem right sides together (I left an opening of course, flipped it around, then topstitched across the entire hem).

I realized that separating zippers aren’t all that difficult to install — what a revelation! I believe I’ve installed one before, but sewing for me is a constant relearning process. By the way, the shot above was taken in the adjacent town of Roslyn, which we love. How awesome is that mural? I think it’s James Dean, but I could be wrong.

I spent a good chunk of the first day of 2016 finishing up the jacket. The level of excitement that K displayed when I showed it to her the next day was deafening. It was such a relief to finish it just before we left for our trip…I’m a lot of things, but a non-procrastinator is not one of them. And I’d like to highlight those crazy ear muffs. K bought them with her own moolah (well, money from grandparents for Christmas) and she’s insanely smitten with them.

Thank goodness that she finally has a warm jacket again. It was 7 degrees Fahrenheit in Cle Elum/Roslyn, and the puffer kept her toasty. And because it’s water resistant (though not entirely waterproof), it’ll be good for the ensuing months of Seattle rain.

We had so much fun this weekend, and it was well-worth the 2-hour delay we stoically sat through due to icy conditions on the way back. Snow fights! A cozy family movie night, which involved gathering around M as he held his ipad (there was a regular TV in the hotel room, but there was something extra silly and delightful about watching Kung Fu Panda 2 on a tiny screen). A fun dinner at a diner with pull tabs — have you ever heard of them? M calls pull tabs the most boring gambling game ever. The food was surprisingly good and the pie was excellent.

I’ve been pretty sick these last couple of weeks, and this getaway was exactly what I needed. We’re back in Seattle now, refreshed and ready to get this year started!

Good Morning! We had a bustling weekend filled with celebrations and Ultimate Frisbee (in the rain! K called Uncle midway to avoid getting sick again). I also stole away for a few hours to luxuriate in some crafting, and remembered my minimalist sewing plans. The warm zip vest seemed like a practical item to tackle for these days with rapidly cooling temperatures, but I couldn’t get myself worked up into a frenzy of excitement about sewing with batting.

As I waded through my stash of fabrics, I came across a piece of white-and-grey pelt the size of a placemat and recalled how K lingered to touch a faux fur vest at Target. I believe it was this one. K rarely stops to look at ready-to-wear clothes, so that moment stuck in my mind. Naturally, I had to make one for her.

I used this book, which actually has a pattern for a faux fur vest. I am thrillingly close to have sewn every pattern, and I’ll have to do a round up of all the clothes I’ve made from this book soon. I derive a lot of satisfaction from seeing all the outfits lined up together — it’s the small things in life, right? Or maybe it’s the touch of OCD in me.

I did change things up a little bit:

– K wanted a cropped vest, so I cut out the size 130cm, but shortened the length to 110cm.

– There are separate instruction for spring and winter versions for this vest pattern, and the winter faux fur version recommends a hook-and-eye closure. I didn’t have one, so I used one of the other closure options of a loop and button (the third option is a tab closure). The loop is leather, and the button is a vintage metal one from my mom.

– Since I had so little of the faux fur, I used it for the front only, and found a nice neutral grey wool for the back piece.

– I lined it with leftover jersey knit from the Halloween costume cape instead of rayon lining fabric that I usually use. This was purely out of laziness since the knit happened to be right there by my cutting table. I’m glad it wasn’t too fiddly!

I love quick, unnecessary and fun projects. Necessity sewing gets me down for some reason (underwear comes to mind).

If K could have given me a thousand thumbs’ ups, she would have. “I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE it,” she declared.

(She accidentally threw the hanger on which the vest was hanging, which is why she looks like that up there. I think it’s cute).

The only tricky part is that faux fur starts shedding uncontrollably once you cut into it, so I was very, very gentle about handling the front pieces. I looked like a 90-year-old offering up a sacrifice while concentrating on walking meditation: I carried the faux fur pieces on upturned, flattened palms as I took painfully slow micro steps from the cutting table to the sewing machine. It worked. There was minimal fluffy tufts floating about, and the vest practically assembled itself.

Fun fun fun. I can now cross off the knit tunic, the skinny jeans and the (modified) vest from my minimal sewing plan:

Not too shabby, I’d say. K agrees.

P.S. I did not make the jeggings, though I wish I had because they’re so awesome. They’re from the neighbor hand-me-down pile. We’ve made very little progress on the clothes elimination front….

Good morning! It was a weekend of highs and lows — shall we start with the lows? I had been looking forward to large chunks of sewing time, but it was not to be. Much to my dismay, I discovered that our basement was flooded and spent my allotted sewing time moving a large number of plastic bins and wiping down the the floor. Not fun.

On the bright side, however, our basement is now sparkling clean and I managed to finish K’s costume in time for the school event. We even got our photo shoot squared away in record time.

Remember her instructions? My one rule was that I wouldn’t buy any fabric for the costume because I simply cannot add any more to my already excessive pile, and I’m happy to report that I abided by my own rule with flying colors. The top, shorts and cape are all from my fabric stash, and I drafted them all myself.

K is in love. We hauled ourselves to Fred Meyer (sort of like Target here in Seattle) and found the mask, belt, boots and fingerless gloves. I had actually been planning to make the gloves, but at $1.49 a pair, handmade gloves seemed pointless.

M conceded to model for the photo shoot as well. They’re so funny.

I had to redo the tie to the cape twice because the sparkly ribbon I used initially was too itchy, and then I found the perfect strip of faux leather and it was a done deal. This is a virtually no-sew cape made out of some shiny black knit and I watched this youtube video to construct it (the sound quality of the video isn’t great, but his instructions were very clear and I had a cape in 15 minutes).

In fact, I didn’t finish any seams, nor did I hem the shorts, so this costume came together ridiculously fast. The part that took the longest was the “K” stencil, only because we had to wait for it to dry.

At Fred Meyer, we got one more thing:

And yes, K did wear the whole get-up including the wig to the school event. Her friends squealed with delight when they recognized her after the initial confusion.

To me, she looks like one of those troll dolls, though I think these photos are super fun:

She’s all set for Halloween 2015! On the actual day, she’s going trick-or-treating with one of her best buddies outside of our neighborhood, followed by a special Hallow’s Eve sleepover. M and I may actually have a date night!

My sweet girl – she absolutely adores her costume and it’s these sorts of moments that make me so happy that I sew.

P.S. The winner of the giveaway is Ksenia, congrats!