As soon as I came across this Kids Duchess Jacket I knew my girls would look absolutely adorable wearing it! Ellie & Mac are quickly becoming my go-to when it comes to projects for my daughters.
My four year old helped me pick out this gorgeous melton wool in French Rose from Fabric Fabric.
I searched high and low for acetate or even Bemberg lining in a matching colour but there was nothing available to me in a price point I wanted. My local Fabricland had premium polyester in the right colour so I had to just go with it. In my experience polyester lining is easy on the wallet but the static cling is unbelievable and it frays like crazy!
We picked up these cute silver shank buttons from Fabricland too.
Every time I have a project on my table, Miss Rosie has to get right in the middle of it!
It took hours and hours to get pattern pieces traced, pinned and cut for two jackets. I know a lot of sewists use a rotary cutter to cut their pattern pieces but I just haven’t been able to bring myself to try it yet!
The pattern instructions are easy to follow and garment construction is very straightforward. I cut sizes 3T and 6 and my only issue was the skirt on the 3T. The pieces just did not fit together for me. I had to trim the hem at the side seams over an inch and practically gathered the skirt to the bodice… as you can see I used a bajillion pins to ease in the skirt. I began to suspect this was a user error; sure enough, when I unrolled my A0 pattern file and lined up the back skirt piece I had traced, I realized I cut the waistline at a size 8 instead of a 3T! Note to self: pay more attention when tracing pattern pieces!
The pattern instructions on bagging the lining were very clear; no sleeves were twisted in the process! After pressing and topstitching, I was ready for buttonholes. The shank buttons didn’t fit my buttonhole foot so I had to find a regular button the same diameter.
I made eight buttonholes on the size 6 but only six buttonholes on the 3T. I was taught this little trick for opening up buttonholes back in my high school Fashions class: insert the pin just before end of the button hole so when you rip the hole open your stitcher ripper will hit the pin and not rip through your stitches!
The buttons were sewn on and the jackets were done! I finished them back in January but life got a little crazy so I didn’t find an opportunity to photograph my girls wearing them until April. Of course now it’s spring and they will probably wear them only once or twice more this season. I did make them a size too big though so hopefully they’ll get more use out of them next winter!
My daughters wore their jackets for the first time out in public and we got so many compliments!
I will definitely sew this pattern again when my daughters grow out of these. The only thing I would do differently next time is increase the seam allowance from 1/4″ to 1/2″. It is just my personal preference to work with a larger seam allowance!
There is an adult version of the Duchess Jacket… I may have to sew one up for myself!
