Moto jackets turned baby blankets.

I am obsessed with Rebecca Taylor's cream moto jacket from this fall's collection, most notably as worn by The Glamourai earlier this month. Click that link. You, too, will be in love with this jacket. And her beetle brooch. I also need a beetle brooch.

However, even on sale at $297, it's just not even in the same universe as my budget. So, I decided to sew one. Surprisingly, motorcycle jacket sewing patterns are not easy to come by. I had to order an out-of-print one from Sewing Pattern Reviews. While I was waiting for the pattern to come in the mail, I found the perfect cream-colored fabric at Joann's. Cleverly, I decided to wait to buy the fabric until the pattern came, so I could read the back and find out how much fabric I needed. So smart.

The pattern came. I got really excited. I carved out a whole Saturday to sew. I went to Joann's, picked up the fabric bolt, and looked at the price for the first time, and it was $40 a yard. Shock. I had no idea Joann's even HAD fabric that expensive. 1) Just too much, and 2) I am still a fairly inexperienced sewer, and there is usually about a 40% chance I will ruin whatever I'm sewing. So, that was out. 

Since I was already at Joann's, and there's almost nothing I hate more than running errands with no results, I figured I'd just look around and see if I wanted to make something else. I came across this knit patterned with little woodland creatures that I'd had my eye on for awhile, but had never bought. (I have sworn off sewing with knits until I get better at sewing in general. I ruined a ton of knits this year. Like, a ton.) I thought, how can I not ruin this and still make it into something for my new nephew? Lightbulb- baby blanket. Bought a yard of the knit and a yard of matching fleece. 

(See those straight lines? Oh yes.)

It's a simple blanket- I basted the two layers together with safety pins, then put masking tape to mark where I wanted to quilt them together. An aside: why had I not done this before? I made actual straight lines, evenly spaced and everything. So much better. So I quilted the two layers together, then I made binding with quilting cotton. I thought it would help the blanket hold its shape over time because it isn't stretchy. We'll see if I'm right. Then I thought, it's a baby blanket. I don't want to hand-sew the binding to the back, like I would on a quilt, because this thing is probably going to get puked on, or worse. So I picked out a decorative stitch on my machine and sewed the binding down. Regrets. There is so much thread involved in loopy, decorative stitches. The binding makes a "plunk" when it hits the table. It's simultaneously hilarious and upsetting. I hope it doesn't scratch the baby or something. 

The plan is to give the baby this blanket, a baby henley made from some this soft plaid fabric I have left over from a recent sewing project, and a Davey Crockett coonskin hat, knitted from this incredibly soft furry stuff I got at my LYS. That, or keep the fur just to pet it. Not sure yet.