KCW Day 5 & 6 Cropped Jacket and Pleated Skirt for Ami

I’ve been waiting for a while to make this adorable cropped Chanel style jacket and a pleated skirt for Ami.  It’s Butterick B5844 (Out of Print) Version A and C.  I made up both pieces in a size 3 for my almost 3 year old little girl.  I had to shorten the sleeves a bit and adjust the waistband but those were very easy adjustments.  The jacket is a refashion out of a cream-colored cotton lace shift dress I got at old navy that was too big and the sleeves are remnants from my last sewing project and the skirt is a pink chevron print that Ami picked out of the remnant bin at Joann’s a few weeks ago.

After working from my Japanese pattern books the instructions on these patterns were a bit frustrating. The diagrams are so small and so few and the instructions just seemed overly complicated.   I did the pleating on the skirt on the wrong side the first go around and couldn’t for the life of me figure out how they meant the waistband to attach so I just gave up and winged it.  The jacket itself was much easier to construct, mainly because I’m more practiced at sewing blouses and dresses for Ami.  I changed some of the construction order to make it easier to sew for me, i.e. leaving the side seams unsewn and setting the sleeve in on the opened seam.  The whole piece is lined so everything looks neat and finished.

I LOVE this jacket!  I cut the pockets so the curved overlay is visible which I think is so pretty.  I really like the ease of this little jacket since there are no closures and it’s a perfect light piece for our Florida weather!  The skirt is really adorable, I’m already planning out a few more!  I really like the inverted pleats.

I just got my birthday present a day early, a new Brother Serger, so tomorrow I’ll be using it to work on a new hoodie for my son!  Looking forward to celebrating my 38th b-day,  we’ll be having a little family Super Bowl party tomorrow (My husbands a big Denver fan) and I get to watch my fave show afterwards, New Girl- I love her style!- with Prince  :)