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Hello! I’m so excited to show you my flips of the Boardwalk Hoodie and Henley! Why yes, there’s more than one. I just had too many ideas to cram into a single creation. You know how that goes, right?

My daughter desperately needed a new spring coat. And I actually want her to wear it so I had to involve her in the design process. Since a coat is worn over other clothes, it needed some extra ease. I used the super scientific tape measure in a circle method. I can’t be the only one who does that, right? Note how big each of the sizes is and use the tape measure in a circle around the child to assess fit? Please tell me I’m not weird…

After my extensive super scientific testing, I ended up choosing the size 8 dress and the hood. For the fronts, I skipped the cutting on the fold part and I extended the pattern piece to make the coat double breasted. Not too wide, just a little bit. I kept the gathers in the back but removed them from the front for a cleaner look. Once I had the coat mostly done, I tried it on my daughter and she told me how long she wanted it. Another super scientific method! Don’t tell her but I made it a couple inches longer… What? I don’t want to make another coat next week when she’s magically grown an inch!

I asked my daughter to design her pocket. Any shape at all. She drew a square with rounded corners at the bottom. Of course. So I just used the pattern piece. At least she was more original when she picked buttons and button placement. We went with 7 buttons in three different colors set in a zigzag.

For fabric, I really wanted to use canvas. Dear daughter disagreed. She wanted cozy and soft interlock. I showed her some fabric online and she picked out the main print. It’s from the Birch Fabrics Serengeti line. I picked a couple possible contrasts and she liked the triangle one, also from the Serengeti line. Inside, I used some of the interlock for the yoke and cotton-spandex jersey (Kaufman Laguna jersey) for the body. You can’t see it but the sleeve lining is plain white organic cotton jersey from Mood and it is unbelievably soft.

You’ll have noticed that coat has absolutely no fabric of mine. I couldn’t do a flip without using my very own knit! So I made a tunic to go with the coat. This time I used the boys’ top as a base. Using my signature super scientific method for assessing fit, I cut a size 4 for my petite 7 year old. I combined the yoke and body pieces and eliminated the button placket. Instead, I made a front facing from the front yoke pattern piece and cut out a keyhole opening in front with a button and loop closure.

I tacked on about 5-6 inches of length and added slits in the side at the bottom. Can I really say I added side slits? It feels more like removing… Then, when I hemmed the bottom, I made the front 1.5” shorter than the back.

And now, my fabric! I used an organic cotton-linen blend and knit it up in a tuck pattern on my knitting machine. I used this fabric to make sleeve bands, a collar, and pockets. The rest of the fabric is navy blue Kaufman laguna jersey.

Now, this kind of fabric is tricky. You know how they say knits don’t ravel? Yeah well, these ones do. A lot. Every edge was overlocked pretty tightly. Then, the pockets were sewn up and placed a wee bit high, just like my daughter wanted. The sleeve and collar edges were bound with the navy blue jersey from the bodice.

And there we have it! I’m quite happy with how both projects turned out and I know they’ll get a lot of wear as the weather warms up. It will warm up, right?

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