Snow Day Sewing!

Aaron and I had a snow day yesterday! I went into the work for about ninety minutes, and then was told to go home because the roads were getting bad.

Snow days have never lost their magic. This may have been my last snow day ever, since when you're working in medicine, you usually work in any weather. People get sick rain, snow, or shine. I sincerely hope it wasn't my last, though, because there's just nothing like a snow day. Such an unexpected midweek gift!

We went out in the backyard for a very short amount of time since Julia has a cold. It was warm for a snow day, with water dripping on us from the trees since in the afternoon it was above freezing.

Julia was so excited.

Daddy helped Julia build Frosty.

I didn't have to wear my white coat yesterday, but that doesn't mean my day was white coat free... because I made one for Julia! Aaron and I bought Julia a chef outfit and a pilot hat for Christmas, and wanted to add a white coat to her costume collection, since she loves playing doctor and veterinarian. I didn't find one online that both fit our budget and looked good, so I decided to try my hand at making one.

A few weeks ago, I bought a used white coat at a thrift store for $2.50 (it was $5, actually, but I had a 50% off coupon... for the win!). It was a women's X-small, but was still, of course, ginormous on Julia.

The coat after two washes in hot water, soap, and bleach!

Too big for even Julia's imagination to shrink.

Flapping her wings!

I made a pattern using a too large 4T sweater I got for Julia on clearance and a paper bag. Then I laid out the coat... and started hacking away!

I made sure to preserve hems wherever possible to minimize how much sewing I had to do (e.g. by cutting the sleeves from the ends of the sleeves, I preserved the cuffs).

I made the coat a long, knee-length doctor length instead of a short student length. The student white coats hit at the hip and are way less flattering. Besides, if she wants to imitate mommy and daddy, the days of the short white coat are numbered ;-)

The cut coat, pre-sewing.

I sewed the seams and zigzag stitched over the raw edges inside to prevent fraying. I also removed the adjustable back belt, the ID loop, and the logo on the pocket.

Post-sewing

The buttons started too low for a toddler coat, so I made a button hole higher up on the coat and sewed on a button that had originally been the bottom button before I chopped off the bottom of the coat.

New, higher up first button.

The finished product!

If I had to do it over again, I would use something larger than a 4T for a pattern, since I fear Julia will outgrow it more quickly than I'd originally intended. But, otherwise, I was really pleased with the results... and Julia was too!

Paging Dr. Julia! With the sleeves rolled up a bit.

There is some room to grow, as you can see with the sleeves unrolled and the coat unbuttoned. Hopefully she will have lots of fun times in her new white coat!