Wild Things coat blogtour, version one: the Beaver

It should not come as a surprise that I love animal inspired garments. For example, last year's spring KCW I sewed seven different animal inspired garments in one week. The newest pattern from Big Little is therefore right up in my alley! The new Wild Things Coat is packed with all kind of ears, tails, spikes etc to make the animal coat your kid has been dreaming of.

In the tester selection phase we were asked what kind of animal we would sew, one of the coats I pitched was a beaver. This animal is not one of the official 14 supplied animals so I winged the tail, ears and belly shape for this version. At the end of the pattern several extra inspiration ideas are given beyond the official options, and one of them is "my" beaver. With all the supplied animal pieces you will have enough to play with anyway, so you can come up with anything. On this tail picture my daughter has some strange bump in her back and I have not managed to figure out what is was, her knee maybe?

Lisa, the woman behind Big Little was very open to the creativity of the testers. I was also allowed to adjust the pockets. The official version of the coat has a paw shaped pocket that you can decorate with claws. My kids need more pocket space though, so I got permission to use flaps to cover up inside pockets. Because of the angle of the flap, the flaps are not perfecty covering the hole, the coat  I show you next will have a more detailed picture of better pockets. I also made the hood a little bit deeper by a small extra curve on the front.

Your kid will want to be involved in the design of this coat, mine did. My daughter was very explicit about the beaver having a white belly and a belly button, because her plush version has. I created a belly button with a star shaped snap.

The outer fabric is Robert Kaufman fleece which I bought at Fabric.com and the lining is the left over piece from this dress. As a lining does not really show, the mistakes in the fabric are not noticeable. I used a little bit of faux suede for the inside of the ears and tail, I bought it at Stoffenelf.

My eldest also demanded a coat, so I sewed her one on Sunday. Yes that is correct, I sewed it in one day. It was my third coat already so I knew what I was doing, but this coat is also a surprisingly quick sew (partly because there is no zipper). It is a coat, so do not expect to finish in two hours, but also you should not fear sewing the entire winter.

The next picture is a sneak peek of the coat I will show you next time (it was the best pic showing the belly button). There are so many beautiful versions already made by the testers, check out the blog tour page for a daily overview. But be careful though, you will be tempted to sew them all.

Anxious to start your own version? Visit the Big Little Pattern shop and purchase your pattern during the launch sale with a 30% discount for only $8.40 excl VAT (regular price $12) until Sunday.

Tuesday: Big Little Tales and Miss Castelinhos and So Popo sew

Wednesday: Sew a Little Seam and Life With a Milk Monster and Inspinration

Thursday: Max California and Small Steps Big Noises and Sew Shelly sew

Friday: Kate and Crew and Squishy Face Collection and Tea Dust and Stitches

Saturday: Adventures with Bubba and Bug and Blessed x Five

You can find the daily blog tour overview link here, there you will also find several non-blog tour tester pics.

I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).