My Dark Moon girl doesn’t like fabric shopping. I’m sure it comes in around number two hundred and fifty thousand on her list of favorite things to do. So, when she found this Hello Kitty remnant at Jo Ann’s a few weeks back, there was no way I was going to object. Before we got to the checkout she had it unrolled and draped around herself, while happily announcing to the whole store that it was her “blankie.”
Since the piece was too small to be a legitimate blankie, I knew I was going to have to transform it. However, I also knew that I was going to have to be stealthy about it. When she fell asleep, I slipped the 20×60 inch strip of fabric out of her grasp and hid it in a stack of fleece waiting to become winter tunics. Thankfully, she didn’t even ask for it the next morning.
Now, I was stuck with figuring out what to do with it. I knew that I didn’t want to cut it up too much because of the spacing of the pattern, so I just let it marinade a bit in the back of my mind. I was about to turn it into a boxy tunic with black flannel sleeves and a ruffled hem when I found this pattern at the thrift store. Problem solved! Nothing is cuter than a toddler sized poncho and with the pattern being a quarter there was no reason to say no.
Since the pattern is for a size 7-8, I cut out version “A” and ended up with a full size toddler poncho. I snagged the hood from version “B” and cut it out of the black flannel I had already pared with the fleece. Since an unfinished inside drives me nuts, especially if it is at all visible, I fully lined the hood. The serger took care of the rest of my seam finishing and the hem.
Start to finish, the whole project took less than an hour. I finished it on the eve of a fall heatwave and attempted to keep it stashed until cooler weather returned next week, but was discovered late last night. Dark Moon was delighted. According to her, it’s still a “blankie” and is the perfect all purpose garment. She has already had it on over her pj’s, with only a diaper, and with jeans and a long sleeve t.
Sissy Makes 