My little boy, my baby, turns 3 on Saturday. I almost literally cannot believe it. So I have been trying to distract myself this week by pouring my love for this little man into some handmade birthday presents for him.

I've been meaning to make a duffel coat ever since I found these amazing wool remnants in the bargain bin at my favourite fabric store on Brunswick Street. I struggled to find a pattern for a while but settled on this Oliver & S one in the end. It's their Schooldays Jacket / Coat. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. It's going to be much too big of course - as everything I make generally is - I seem to live in fear of spending lots of time and effort making something only to find that it's too small. I'd much rather it was too big and could be grown into. In this case I had to make a size 4 because the pattern is sold in 2 sizes and I opted for the 4+ size so that I would be able to make more in the future.

I originally had my heart set on lining it with a brown fabric with big white polka dots, but of course I couldn't find exactly what I had imagined so went with this Rupert Bear fabric which is actually really cute and Jacob will probably love it more than he would have liked brown anyway!

The Elephant is from a RicRac pattern that I spotted in my local fabric store. I think he's rather lovely don't you?