Snow Suits and Re-Purposing.....

My most adorable niece lives near me, and has an 18" doll named Martha. Martha is very special and a dear companion to said niece. I understand, I had cherished dolls too, in fact two of those dolls sit in my room always, and when I move, they don't go in a box, they travel with me and are set out immediately.  I had many dolls as a child, but these two are most beloved. Anyway, I digress.  Since I understand this love of dolls and since I LOVE  to sew anything doll related, Martha has a wardrobe to make any Hollywood starlet jealous.  But, she didn't have a snow suit!  My niece was worried about this because Martha goes everywhere with her and she was getting cold.  With her huge eyes and charming little face, she once again came to me and shyly asked if I could make Martha a Snow Suit!!! A Snow Suit?! Ummmmmm, I slept on it, and pondered it and finally decided I would re-purpose an old coat!  This also meant making a pattern for a pair of snow pants and a coat. I visited the Salvation Army thrift store in Cortez, Colorado and picked up a nice coat for just a couple dollars and went home and de-constructed it.......( aka: cut it all up!)  Theresa, I'll be coming to your store soon for more coats! 

You can see I'm cutting off the sleeve here.

Then I designed a pattern. I use paper towels to do pattern designing because you can try it on the doll as you go. It acts like fabric, and if needed, you can even sew it.

This is the snow pants pattern I finally decided was right.

Coats have filling, that's what keeps you warm and makes them puffy so you have to sew carefully.

Yes, I'm still using the antique!

I used the rib knit cuff material from the coat to make the cuffs on the  little coat, and waistband and collars on the pants and coat.  It all worked quite nicely.

Here are the snow pants.....

And here's the whole outfit with coat!

I decided since the coat had a label, I'd add said label to the outfit.....so I did......

I now know how to make snow suits, and I have enough coat left over to make one maybe two more. And, I know more what I'm doing so the next one should be even better.   Martha always gets the prototype!
FYI, I'm diving into this 18" doll clothes market, so keep your eyes out for my soon to be coming Etsy site!