Gooseberry Hill

If you want a great, little jacket pattern, here's one  that I have made countless times over the years. The fit is spot on and it has been a winner on every child that I have ever made it for.  There are various ways that you can change up the look of this jacket, so let your creative genes simply take over.

I must confess, this was another one of those purchases that I felt I absolutely 'needed' to make when visiting Zoelee's  years ago.  She had made a sample using this pattern and  had it hanging in her shop...it's still there today in fact.  Once I laid eyes on that little jacket  it instantly captured my heart and sent my mind whirling as to what I could do with it!  You know when you see a pattern and you just intuitively  know what you are going  do with it  and even if you don't right then, you know you eventually will??  That's the affect that that pattern had on me...I just had to have it!   Zoelee, at the time, also carried this beautiful lace that was perfect to sew on the bottom of the jacket.  Unfortunately, she ran out due to its popularity and  I was forced to go online to find more.  I did find some beautiful lace in the UK as a replacement until Zoelee was able to get more lace in.  Trust me when I say that the lace enhances the jacket  big time so it is imperative that you get the right one.   I give Gooseberry Hill and overall A for fit, design, and directions.

I wish I had better pictures to share with you, but I will share what I have.

First up,  the pattern:

And here are the pictures that I do have of some of the jackets that I have made.  What's nice about these jackets is that you can dress them up...or down.  They look adorable with a cute pair of jeans or over an outfit, your choice.

Instead of hand embroidery, which I dearly love to do, I used my embroidery machine and embroidered on the backs of some jackets especially when using denim fabric.  My fabric of choice however will always be 100% cotton, waffle weave fabric.  Sadly though, this fabric is difficult to find anymore...and when I have found it, it has a blend of polyester in it which I don't care for.  The look, feel, and use is so different than the 100% cotton only fabric.  Should you ever find the cotton, it is also superb in making kitchen towels as gifts for Christmas ...or for yourself.  I have made lots of these kitchen towels using the cotton version of the waffle weave due to its ability to actually dry dishes with ...and as a bonus, it looks great hanging in your kitchen with an embroidery design on it along with a ruffle gracing the bottom.  So cute!! Just make sure that you always pre-wash that cotton before embroidering on or sewing with it as it does tend to shrink.

Until the next post...have fun creating!