I'm no seamstress. Like for reals, I totally just make things up as I go. I use painter's tape, a metal tape measurer, eyeball just about everything, and try to get away with as little pinning as I can. But, I think this one turned out pretty cute. Since I'm no master of sewing, I probably won't go into super detail about how it all went together {mainly because I don't want to be laughed at for my tactics}. But I will try my best to make it look like I had some idea of what was going down.
The fabric cost me about $18. Chris actually picked out the super cute yellow poka-dot felt-ish fabric. I had no idea how much I'd need, so I just got a yard of the liner, yard of the main fabric, and just little pieces of the felt accents.
So, there's probably an awesome pattern I could have bought, or maybe even found online for free.... but I figured I'd save myself the time and effort, and just use a hoodie that I already had as a guide. I taped paper together and outlined what I thought each shape should be. {I kept all of them so hopefully I can repeat it again}.
A yard of fabric turned out to be more than I needed.
I sewed the liner first. Mainly because that fabric was cheaper, and if I screwed it up royaly, it wouldn't be as expensive to buy some more.
I've never sewn arms before, but they turned out to be super easy. You just sew the tube first, and then sew them into the sleeve spot. Somehow that seemed like it was going to be way harder than it was.
The hood was actually harder than the arms. How it came together wasn't quite right at first. I had to alter my home made pattern a little and try again.
Once I had the liner, I did the exact same thing with the main fabric.
Then came the fun part. The lion accessories. First I sewed little ears.
Then I sewed a little mouth.
And a little nose. You can see in this picture, I also made a brown partner for the white part of the mouth. Later I "sandwiched" the hood with the brown and the white.
To insert the ears I sliced a little line in the hood and stuck the ears through. Then I just sewed across it, making sure to get either side of the hood just a little so no unraveling would come later.
Once the ears were done I sewed on the little nose to the hood and the mouth. {The mouth is not yet sewed onto the hood} I also sewed little dots for whiskers. They might be my favorite part of the whole thing.
The eyes came next. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, so I experimented with some felt and buttons. I also was testing out this trim to see if I liked it. I pinned it on while I worked with the eyes to see if I would end up liking it. I never did, so I eventually unpinned it.
I sewed the eyes on the same way I did the nose, with a tight zigzag stitch around all the edges.
He looks a little creepy with just black eyes...
My new idea for the mane was yarn. This yarn even is "LionBrand" so I figured it was destiny. It took me a little to figure out how I was going to do it. But since the yarn is so soft and fluffy, loops seemed like the only option.
I made little loops and sewed with a zigzag across them to hold them together.
And here is the little tail all put together.
The mane was a little trickier. I crocheted a chain as long as I thought the main should be, then zigzagged yarn back and forth while I sewed down the middle.
It really worked out better than I expected.
Trying to sew the mane on was probably the hardest part of this whole deal. Because you are pretty much sewing blind. The mane is so fluffy, and the hood so roundy that you really have no idea where you are exactly.
I was impressed with myself when I flipped it all back around and the mane looked great.
Sewing the liner to the main fabric was very exciting. I pinned everything back that I didn't want to get in the way, and went to town. I was surprised how well everything lined up. The hood seams are a little off from each other, but since the mouth covers the first couple inches of it anyways who will be able to tell right?
I was most excited for the little claws in the arms.
I sewed them to a little cuff {to hide the seams on the inside} and they went in super slick.
I sewed them to a little cuff {to hide the seams on the inside} and they went in super slick.
I sewed the two mouth pieces on, with little teeth in there too, and also sewed the tail in. The buttons are the final touch.
My sewing machine ain't no super fancy sews everything for you kind of machine, but I have to admit, it sews button holes like a boss. Maybe this is nothing fancy for some people, but I feel spoiled everytime I use it. My special button hole foot has a spot for you to put the button you are going to use, then the machine can read how big it is and it sews the button hole for you perfect. Seriously, I just hold the foot pedal down and watch the magic happen. No one wants to see pictures of me sewing on buttons, so lets skip to the end.
And there is a lion coat for a 3-6 month old. I don't know about you guys, but I'd feel cool carrying around my kid wearing this.
Oh yeah, at the end I wanted to check to see how similar to my guide hoodie my lion turned out to be. Looks like a pretty close match. BAM. I'm pretty happy about it.
