Southern Magnolia

I am so excited to share my first design with you all! When I heard that this week’s theme would be all about POCKETS, I knew that I needed to create something fun and functional. My daughter uses her pockets for carrying around all her treasures, and right now, nothing is more loved by her than Bluey. She loves watching the show, reading the books, and playing all the pretend from her favorite episodes.

Living in the USA means that I don’t have an easy way to access Bluey fabrics or designs, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from making her an extra special outfit that showcased all her favorite characters while giving her pockets for storing her own Bluey toys. I’m sure many of you who also watch the show will recognize all the easter eggs in this outfit.

For the dress, I pulled inspiration from vintage patterns of full-skirted summer dresses with large unique shaped pockets. The pale blue of the dress with the rainbow design was made to match the bedding of Bingo Heeler, Bluey’s little sister, and my daughter’s favorite character in the show. To create the rainbow, I drafted up some curved pieces to be added to the skirt front and back. The pockets are also made with overlapping curves for a sweet and feminine style.

Next, I hand embroidered Bluey, Bingo, and the cousins onto the bodice in the sketchy style of “Escape”. This part was both fun and tricky, because I had just sprained my middle finger on my dominant hand, and it was really swollen.

A touch of lace was added to the layered patch pockets to match the lace from the sewn-in pettiskirt. But then I began to think that two pockets were just not enough. After conferring with my daughter about what she would like, she told me many, MANY more ideas about items and episodes that needed to be added.

And so began the adventures of creating my very first jean jacket. I upcycled a pair of my husband’s old pants and modified the “Detroit” shacket from Little Lizard King for the pattern. With the size of the holes and worn material in these pants, I had to get a bit creative with my cutting, but thankfully I had just enough useable fabric to work with.

I changed the regular hoodie option of the pattern to add the ears and markings of Bingo. Then I lined the ears with a stabilizer in order to keep their shape and to help them sit upright when worn.

More hand embroidery and handmade patches were added for this fun look, with Ellie making sure to tell me EXACTLY what she wanted to have on her jacket. Images of Chattermax, a garden gnome husband, the magic xylophone, a tennis ball, and the sneaky long dog make their appearances. And at the special request of my daughter, a hidden “smoochy kiss” can be found under the “Keepy Uppy” balloon. She even helped me by embroidering the little heart above the loving couple’s head.

But let’s not forget to check out those pockets! I reused the back pockets of the pants to make the front jacket pockets easy, but then made the inseam pockets look like the famous kiwi and watermelon rugs from Bluey in the kids’ bedroom and playroom.

This was such a fun project for me! I enjoyed staying up late watching Bluey with my daughter for “research”, then getting her opinion on what she thought was important to have represented. And I am so grateful for all the bonding time and cuddles that were had while creating this jacket and dress.

Don’t forget to check out what the other talented contestants made on Project Sew and Play: Season 26, and vote for your favorites!