Pattern Review: Burda 9780 Toddler jacket

I love sewing for my kids. Unfortunately they have lots of hand-me-downs from friends that are in pretty good condition already, so there is no need to sew more clothes for them. My daughter just had a growth spurt in the last couple of weeks and her clothes are getting shorter and tighter. Her spring jacket that she wore all last Fall is now above her navel. And there were nothing in her size in the 2 local thrift shops. I guess I had to make her something myself! Oh how I relished this opportunity!

I'm still on the pledge to sew from stash fabrics and stash patterns. Fortunately I had accumulated some kids' patterns in the last few years. I dug up Burda 9780 and thought it looked cute. I also found some remnant coated yellow cotton fabric that I got from the cheapy bin a few years back that could work well as a windbreaker material. I know the pattern called for knit fabrics. But with the kimono sleeves I thought I could make it with a stiff coated woven material.

I had to sew it up really quickly because it had been raining on and off last week and my toddler had nothing to wear. I didn't even look at the pattern instructions. I just took out the fabric and the pattern pieces and started cutting. The pattern pieces seemed straight forward enough and I was able to sew it up pretty quickly. I didn't have enough of the yellow fabric and had to cut the sleeves shorter by about 3 cm. I want the jacket to last at least until next winter so I lengthened the front piece to almost the same length as the back, used a zipper instead of a button front to add more width, added a storm flap in the front as well to make it more rain/shower proof. I also made the hood a bit deeper by added 3cm to the front of the hood. I put in elastics into the front edge of the hood as well.

When it comes to the lining, the only kiddish fabric in my stash that wouldn't show through the yellow cotton was this white cotton flannel with numbers on it. I actually didn't have enough and had to cheat. The sleeves linings were pieced together and not all in 1 piece. I figured no one would notice anyways.

I'm quite pleased how it turned out. My daughter has already been wearing it for a few days and it didn't seem to stop her from being her usual active-exploring self. It hasn't rained for a few days so I will need to see how it performs when it rains. Let's hope she won't stain the jacket/lining with mud/food too soon!! LOL!