16 June, 2012

What to do when there's SO. MUCH. RAIN?!?

Well we've had LOTS of rain lately and I'm a little... actually a lot over it!! But it has given me heaps of opportunity to crack out my newest sewing project. I made the kids raincoats this year. :) Why bother, I hear you ask?!? Good question... Let me fill you in... I HATE regular kids raincoats! The plastic fabric is so thick and uncomfortable and YUK! One day while I was online I stumbled upon laminated cotton. Laminated cotton is 100% cotton (normally quilting weight) with a thin coating of plastic on the outside for waterproofing. Because the layer of plastic is quite thin the fabric is still quite soft, just a bit stiffer than a regular cotton. It's gorgeous! So after my research I decided to give it a shot. I bought some online from this Etsy store. When it turned up I squealed with joy... it was so beautiful!

Anyway, here are the raincoats... Lachie chose his fabric...

The hood has a cotton lining, but the rest of the coat is unlined.


How sweet is Adele's coat! :)


I LOVE this pic... in less that a second I was about to get VERY wet! :)

The next day (still raining) Tim made little origami boats with Lachie in the morning while Adele...

coloured in her face ;)

then we got rugged up...

and set sail....

down the river drain ;)
If you are thinking of making any of your own here are 3 things I have learnt from this project...

1) because the bottom layer of the fabric is cotton, the coat takes a lot longer to dry than a regular plastic only raincoat as the cotton soaks up the water. The cotton doesn't get too wet when just using it to walk in the rain but it does get wet when the kids jump in puddles.
2) I probably wouldn't choose a white fabric again. Because the kids jump in muddy puddles and end up sitting in mud and doing all sorts of muddy activities in the rain the cotton soaks up the dirt. You don't notice with Lachie's because it is brown but Adele's shows every single piece of dirt. I always handwash them but it's hard to get the dirt out.
3) It's not a super quick project (at least not for a beginner like me) the fabric was a bit tricky to work with.

Anyway, I am super happy with how they have turned out!! And a massive thanks to my friend Leigh who put in the snaps for me with her handing snap press! Thanks Leigh!! ;)

Kerryn

1 comment: