But It's Too Cute NOT To Wear!

My darling little baby boy turned 2 in May and apparently is already having opinions on what to wear. This is exciting, but breaks my heart because I made something darn cute and, of course, he won't wear it!

 Last summer my mom bought Rowan this cute little white jacket from Carters to wear after swimming (naturally, I forgot to take a picture of it before I hacked it up). It was made of terry cloth, had a hood, and a little zipper that only went half way down (so you had to slip it over his head to get it on). It was an 18 month, so it was pretty big. This year it fit perfectly, once you got it on. Apparently his head is a bit big and pulling it on a squirming 2 year old was a nightmare.

 So I had this flash of brilliance! I'll take out the zipper, cut it down the front, and add buttons instead! After copious amounts of ripping out stitching that I could barely see and a quick cut job with the scissors, I had an unfinished, open jacket.

Seriously, the ripping out of the zipper was the toughest part of the whole project.  Carters sewed that sucker in there for good!  The next step was to serge those two raw edges, then turn them under a half inch and sew.  I also top stitched near the edge to make sure it laid nice and flat.

I rummaged through my horde of buttons (every seamstress needs a horde of buttons!) and just happened to find these 3 enormous orange buttons.  But how to close it?  Button holes seemed like a bad idea due to the ravel-ly nature of terry clothe and I really didn't want to lose any girth in the jacket.  My mom jumped in and suggested using bias tape to make loops.  So back to the closet I went and happened to find some bright teal bias tape that looked really striking with the orange buttons.  

Then bippity-boppity-boo, the jacket was done!

Of course, having developed compulsive-embroidery-syndrome, I then decided it needed a little something on the right shoulder.  Enter my favorite website for cheeky patterns, Urban Threads.  There was this awesome little pirate ducky that seemed only too appropriate for a swim cover-up.

Not sound too smug, but seriously, how cute did this thing turn out?  I finished it the night before Rowan had swim lessons and was all excited for him snuggle up in it when he was done.  

WRONG.  This jacket is like the plague or cooties him.  Every time I pull it out, he practically runs in the other direction.  Hence why there is no picture of him wearing it.  Sigh.  Good thing it didn't take 6 months to make!  Maybe I'll get him in it yet this summer....