To no one’s surprise, I finished up a Spring Showers jacket for Emily soon after I made Natalie’s. It did, however, take me way too long to get some finished pictures of it! Taking the finished pictures is a big deal for me. It’s more than a record of what I made, and often, the only thing I have left after the coat has been outgrown and passed down. I’m not one to hang on to too many sentimental things (our house was build in the 40s with the smallest amount of storage space), but this is my favorite way to remember projects and my kids at this exact moment in time. You might even remember I made this exact coat for Emily four years ago. She loved it so much. It got worn every Spring and Fall for all those years and finally was outgrown. It lasted so long! And I love seeing it now, worn and hopefully will get worn some more by my niece. That really ends up being the best part of sewing for me. Making useful things and seeing the joy they bring to my family.

Once Emily and I determined that her former jacket was indeed too small to last one more season, we got to work deciding on fabrics. I think I sort of half way tried to get her to pick a different color, but blue has always been her favorite and I knew that it was the perfect wearing fabric for this jacket. I thought it might be less exciting to make this coat almost exactly as before, but it really was fun to sew. I think because I knew it was something she was going to love, that it made it really enjoyable to make and finish. This time around she chose a tiny rainbow print for the lining from Leah Duncan’s newest fabric collection from Cloud9 Fabrics, No Place Like Home. It’s kind of funny how both Natalie and Emily’s coat had linings from that collection, the colors are perfect with the twill exteriors and my girls just love her designs, too.

I added a couple inches in length the the body of the coat and sleeves. I knew that we really liked having the sleeves cuffed, and Emily being on the taller side of the size range, I knew that having it a little longer to last a season or two longer wouldn’t hurt. I made sure to have her try on the exterior of the coat before I finished the lining just in case we had to make any adjustments, but it went smoothly without a hitch and I think the fit is perfect.

The finishing details were the drawstring cord and leather pieces. Again, same as last time around, but fun to see come together in the finished project. I did have so much for sewing up these jackets for my girls! They’re definitely a favorite.

Pattern: Spring Showers Jacket by Elegance & Elephants
Fabric: Robert Kaufman Hampton Twill in Pacific, The Clouds are Far Behind (No Place Like Home collection) by Leah Duncan for Cloud9 Fabrics

It’s almost summer and I actually forget every year how it gets so busy in May and June with all the events stacked up all at once. Birthdays, Anniversaries (my husband and I celebrated our 15th this May), soccer, end of school events, and of course things like Quilt Market. For anyone who hasn’t heard of Quilt Market, it’s an industry trade show that happens twice a year to showcase new fabric collections, new products, etc. I haven’t mentioned it here on the blog yet, but on my Instagram you may have seen that I debuted my fabric collection, Forage, with Robert Kaufman Fabrics just a week or so ago in Portland, Oregon. I’m so honored to have been able to work with Robert Kaufman Fabrics in the past and constantly am reaching for their fabrics, so it feels great to be part of this amazing company and to have this opportunity to design fabric.

I had a booth within the Robert Kaufman‘s section to showcase Forage. It’s a collection of 20 prints overprinted on Essex and Essex Yarn Dye (yesssss! eeek!). I’m so thrilled with how the fabric turned out. Don’t you love a good fat quarter stack like this? Here’s the super important part – it’ll be shipping to stores in August! Yep, I simultaneously know that it’s both far away and right around the corner at the same time. Isn’t that how summer goes? Well, I hope this tiny taste of the collection will provide a little bit of inspiration and get you excited about sewing with it.

Forage Bag (designed by me) will be a FREE pattern that will be available in August when my fabric collection, Forage, ships to stores! It’ll be worth the wait!

I’m already excited to show you all the projects I made using it! And to talk a bit about things that inspired me while designing the prints. I’ll be saving the projects to share for when it gets closer to the release date as I know it can be so hard to be inspired to make something yet not have the fabric available. So please hang in there! With the release of Forage will be a brand NEW and FREE pattern that I designed. It’s a super fun one and I think it’ll be great as a quick, satisfying, and useful make.

If you’re interested in these fabrics, please share this with your local quilt shop and ask if they’ve ordered. I’m so excited for August!