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Happy Thanksgiving! It is officially okay now to start getting excited about Christmas… you have my permission. So let us set up the tree, jingle the bells, and check out my flip of the Dear My Kids Pea Coat!

First I’ll break it down visually how I went from pea coat to dress, then I’ll get into the details.

My main goal was to come up with a good flip of the pattern, but to also stay true to the elements of the original.

I took one of the front jacket pieces, pulled it over across the chest a bit more, then added a button placket that goes all the way up to the neckline. Since I made a separate beaded collar to mimic the pea coat, I drafted a short standing collar to take it’s place on the dress.

Next I cut the pattern at the waistline where I added a gathered skirt. To cinch it in at the waist I attached a casing all around the waist seam and an opening at one side for the tie.

The only changes I made to the sleeves were to omit the wrist band detail and instead do sleeve bands.

And for the collar! I played around a lot with the shape of the collar, which ended up being pretty different from the original pea coat piece. You see, I knew the amount of time it would take to bead the thing and I selfishly wanted it to be able to fit me as well. So it may be a bit bigger on Drew, but I have a feeling I’m going to be getting the most use out of it!

And the beading did take hours and hours.  But it was enjoyable work. It was nice to lounge on the couch watching Office episodes while I work rather than being tied to my sewing machine in the basement.

Drew made a lot of weird faces in this photo shoot. Picture baby sister in her high chair right to the side of us and you can imagine where the sillyness was coming from!

I also re-purposed a thrift store women’s gold skirt and three yards of gold tulle into a petticoat to add some fanciness.

The gorgeous green fabric is a Cotton and Steel basic print that I got here. You can never go wrong with Cotton and Steel.

And I think that’s about it! It was a fun pattern to flip.

Enjoy your holidays!

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