Coat for Bunny

Whoa! I just looked at the date of my last post and it was a fortnight ago. I haven't forgotten that I owe you guys the final installment of the Darts Trilogy! Really! It's all written out - in fact, I wrote all three posts together. However, for some reason, that last one didn't flow. It was a hard post to write because it's all nuances and not all straightforward facts like the two first posts. So I've let it sit to see what it feels like when I revisit it later. Already it's evolving in my head- just a couple of days ago, I decided it needed several more diagrams on creative princess seamery, which made me cheer!

I'll get back to drafting right after Christmas, but in the meantime, let me show you some of the making that's been going on at home. Lots of advent baking and some sewing, some of which were done by the children handmaking gifts for each other. It might knock your socks off! First, though, eyes on me. 

I made a coat for Bunny for Christmas. People without small children: go ahead and shake your heads and judge me. You will not understand. Don't bother to try. Small children live in a different world altogether, in which logic and rational thought do not exist. 

Here's the backstory: Kate has been bemoaning Bunny's clotheslessness forever. Bunny has no swimsuit- how can she go swimming with us at the water park? Bunny has no underwear - she's immodest! Bunny needs a shirt. Bunny's dress is too fancy to wear to the supermarket. And, most recently: Bunny is freezing- it's winter and she is naked; it's not fair that Bearaby has a coat and is warm while Bunny doesn't have one. And Bearaby is a POLAR BEAR!

Incidentally, I'm recording all that here because the day loometh ominously close when my children will be teenagers and/or adults and we'll have these kinds of conversations instead:

Child 1: I have a dental appointment after swim team this afternoon, Mom. I'll be home late.

Me: Drive safely. Oh, did you want to take Hedgy with you?

C1: (after incredulous pause): My stuffed animal?

Me: Yes. You used to take him to all your dental appointments, remember?

C1: That was when I was eight!

Me: Eighteen isn't that much older.

Child 2: Mom, you need help.

Child 3: Yeah, Mom. Last week, you cut my sandwiches into princess shapes. 

C1: What's the name of that Mother's Support Group that Sandra's mom's attending?

C2: I'll text her now.

C3: I'm tweeting my friends to see who else has neurotic mothers.

C2: They probably don't have a spot open. Half my class have parents in that group.

Back to the present now. So Kate finally wore me down. I put up quite the defence, let me tell you. My best argument, I thought, was the one in which I said that as I had made Bunny myself, I knew better than anyone whether she had a high or low tolerance to cold and exposure. It was watertight- I mean, I pulled the Logic and Authority and Omnipotent Creator cards all at once! 

But here's the thing: when you spar with a six-year-old, you always lose. Because while you argue with your mind, they fight with their heart. And heart always wins, because Mothers are suckers for heart.

So here's Bunny's coat. Please note the saddle-stitching. It may be miniature and for a stuffed animal, but all coats that come from under my presser foot have to look like they could be worn by a human.

Quick tour:

Front:

Back:

Side:

Saddle-stitching on hood,

button placket

 and hem/fake cuff

Here's the lining. It has bunnies on it. Of course it does. 

Here's Bunny modeling the lining side out.

So yes, it's reversible. But only because it's lined. And not because I think anyone should wear their coats lining-side-out just to double the mileage. Bunny might be able to pull of the nursery flannel pyjama look, but no one else could. 

This is not the end, though. You can bet that Jenna will be asking for a swimsuit for Bearaby next. Which will lead to Kate needing one for Bunny. It never ends. I'm going to play the Summer Card, though, and see how long I can hold them off. Even though I know I'll lose.