J. turned 2 today. It seems like only yesterday he made his early entrance. We had a little family celebration this evening complete with Indian take out and my favorite cupcakes–made from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook.
H. helped him open his gifts which included the elephant I knit for him last month.
I was able to finish a school days raincoat for J. just minutes before his birthday late last night. I used Etsuko Furuya’s Echino cotton laminate for the outside and baby blue flannel by Robert Kaufman for the lining.
I must admit, this project had to be my most challenging sewing project to date. Sewing with cotton laminate for was tough given the stiffness and the stickiness. So please don’t look too close at the edge stitching since it turned out a bit wonky. I was covering the right side of the cotton laminate with tissue paper from a recent Anthro purchase to help prevent it from sticking to my sewing machine. Towards the end of the project, I was able to find thin tissue paper which allowed me to see through to the fabric a bit better. I was able to put my old OED from my days as an undergrad and grad student to good use. I used it as a weight to help keep the cotton laminate pressed after I had ironed it.
I made the raincoat in a size 3 even though J. is only 2 (but a large 2). Given all the work that went into this, I hope J. can wear this for 2 years. Since he dislikes wearing jackets, J. refused to try on his new raincoat, but his sister jumped at the chance. I have fabric to make her a new raincoat as well.
Now we just have to wait for rain…
I think we all had a wonderful little birthday celebration. We’ve formed so many amazing memories over the past two years with baby J., and I can’t wait for more to come.
Night Knitter 
Happy birthday J!
What a nice print to use for his coat. Love it!
Oh the coat is lovely, and Happy Birthday to your little one. If you want rain, I have plenty to share. We are going on 7 weeks of rainy weather, gray skies, and horrible mugginess.
I haven’t tried the Echino laminates yet, but the Free Spirit qualities are really nice and flexible and I think would be easier to sew with. But that probably doesn’t help, given that you’ve already purchased fabric for the second jacket. Do you have a walking foot? I love mine and it makes a really easy job of sewing on laminates.
Thanks, Liesl, for the tips. The fabric I purchased for H’s coat is much more flexible, so it will be easier to work with. I guess this is one of the pitfalls with ordering fabric online 🙂
Thanks for the tip on the walking foot. I have no idea what that is, but will check it out!
You’ll love it. It’s like having feed dogs at the top and bottom of your sewing machine, so fabric moves very nicely. Used mostly for quilting, but I keep mine on the machine most of the time.
And I neglected to wish your little cutie a happy birthday! Hope it was a good one.
Hi Liesl,
I can’t wait to get one. The fabric I picked out for H’s coat is by Annette Tatum and indeed printed by Free Spirit! YAY!
I absolutely love this. I think you did an excellent job. Great fabric choices.
Wow wow wow! That coat is amaaaazing :o)