Merry Christmas and Coats for Everyone!

Whew!  I think Christmas may be over for this year?  There is nothing left in the 'pile-o-gifts' that has been taking up the end of my sewing room counter, so I think we may be done.  The last celebration was with my youngest son who spent a lovely holiday in San Fransisco and left his busy little rescued pup with us for four days.  When he returned this weekend we had a lovely brunch and had to send little Gizmo home... along with the last of the gift pile.

Taking care of Gizmo was really fun and really tiring!  I had forgotten how busy a pup can be, particularly one that is discovering a new place.  She was really efficient at finding all the things that are NOT for dogs!  But I also loved that she needed to go for walks!  Just the motivation I needed to get my over indulged holiday self outside!

As part of our 'puppy instructions' we learned that Gizmo sometimes gets cold and shivers when she is outside for too long.  Well, that won't do!  I figured I could do something about that.  I had made coats for everyone else this year...why not the little dog, too.

Believe it or not, I do not happen to have a dog coat pattern in my stash, which meant that I had to come up with one.  It is not so easy to measure a dog.  She thought I was trying to play and kept trying to 'tug of war' with my tape measure!  Eventually I got the two measurements I needed and made a quick Trial Balloon to see if my idea would actually work.  ...it did!

Here is my first try...

    

I used the scraps from the Francine top that I had made for my son's girlfriend.  It is a soft almost blanket like fabric and made an excellent doggy coat as well.

For the 'real' version I fished a coat that my husband was planning to donate out of the Goodwill box and went to town!

     

                

I'm not sure Gizmo is as pleased as I am with the result, but she is a very good sport and wears her coats without a fuss.  In fact, she seems to quite like them, and we had no shivers, even on our longer walks!

It was much easier to tell that my husband and son were pleased with their respective Merchant and Mills Landgate jackets.  They both picked the same pattern and the same fabric.  After setting the sleeves in my older son's Foreman jacket I was glad that they had chosen the raglan sleeve coat, until I started wrestling with the hood and the sheer volume of the pattern.  Oiled canvas is a workout no matter what pattern you use!

         

I continue to be impressed with the Merchant and Mills patterns.  The instructions for the zipper and hood are really great, and the results are so professional.  

          

I have enough fabric to make a coat for myself....I think I will take a bit of a break before another round with oiled canvas...my sewing machine needs a break as well!

Here's my son giving me his best 'high fashion model' pout....

      

With sooooo much Christmas this year I haven't even thought about my upcoming Key West adventure!  😳  Happy New Year...and here we go again!