We’re getting ready for our annual Thanksgiving journey. Last year I SWORE I would never do the drive with Samster again, it’s a 5 hr trip to CT & that was 5 hours entirely too long. I didn’t care if we had to take out a 2nd mortgage on the house for the airfare, I was NOT. GONNA. DO. IT.

So guess what I’m doing this week?

Preparing for the drive to Connecticut…again…and yes, Sam’s coming too.
We figured that enough time has passed that we can better entertain her, I mean there must be vast differences between driving with a 4 month old and a 15mth old, right? Do you hear that? I think she’s laughing at me. Rat.

All that to say I’ve been giving it a lot of thought and am working on putting together a ‘Samster Car Survival Kit’. (I’ll post the good stuff I find later) 1st thing? Something comfy to wear. Probably not too important but I needed a sewing excuse.

I dug through my stash & found a super cozy plush blanket I had snagged off the clearance rack at Target forever ago. The edges have a decorative blanket stitch so there’s no need to hem as long as I cut it right. LOVE finding shortcuts! I wanted Sam to have something warm but also light, it’s such a pain to try & buckle them in their seats when their jackets are too poofy. My other pet peeve is that every fleece jacket or pullover I find has a hood. Once again, too much fabric for a long car ride. Who wants a hoodie all bunched up behind their head? I settled on making a fuzzy snap-front jacket & matching elastic waist pants. I must say, I’m pretty darn impressed with the pants. They came out perfect! And I know it’s only because I’ve made several droopy, uneven, wonky pants in the past. For me I just have to keep trying something over & over & will eventually get it down pat.I used this pant’s tutorial minus the drawstring & pockets. Also I love the tip that’s in the comments section of that post regarding sewing one leg inside the other…great tip! Total sewing time, 15 minutes.

The jacket on the other hand is a bit of a different story. I’ve never made a jacket before & while I was sewing it I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it actually was. I used one of her current hooded jackets as the pattern (obviously leaving out the hood) & even added a few gathers at the top of the sleeves for some girly poof. This morning when Sam woke up I couldn’t wait to try it on her, that’s when I realized my jacket skills might need a bit of tweaking.

I had unintentionally made my 15 mth old a blazer. Actually a full fuchsia fuzzy suit to be exact.
I let her go ahead and keep it on all day because P & I just couldn’t help but crack up every time she toddled in the room. She’s my little 1980’s business woman, all I keep thinking of is Melanie Griffith in “Working Girl”. Ah well, like I said, gotta try things a few times before you get ’em right.

One thing I did love about making this jacket was my new snazzy snap tool. I ordered it from sewbaby & it was WONDERFUL. If you’ve ever tried using one of those cheapy snap tools at the fabric store then you know what a pain it is to try and line up the pieces, I always end up ruining several snaps before I can get them right, but with this tool they came out perfect every time. Also sewbaby has a cute assortment of colored snaps that I think make your work look boutique-ish. I’m a snap girl after several wonky buttonholes have ruined my projects.

Ok, off to make Samster Mommy’s Broccoli Cheese soup- I’ll be sure to post the recipe later, it’s a rainy day MUST!

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