American Girl doll Motorcycle Jacket

What do you do when you have a pattern for an American Girl doll Motorcycle Jacket that you snagged on a Pixie Faire Freebie Friday giveaway, plus some leftover faux leather from making a tote bag? I don't know about you, but I couldn't resist the temptation to make said jacket out of that faux leather. And THAT is what took up way more time than I anticipated before Christmas. BUT, I'm soooo happy with the result! Here it is:

And on my little model, Kit (it's really brown, like above, not black like it appears on her):

Up close:

It even has functioning WELT pockets... very LITTLE pockets,

and elbow patches on the sleeves.

It has tiny belt loops, and eyelets and a buckle in the belt.

It is fully lined, too.

It also has some imperfections that bug me, but they're really not that bad, all things considered. I blame them on the pleather.

If you're not familiar with the size of American Girl dolls, here's Kit on a real full-size motorcycle. Compare her smallness with the back rest or the saddlebag.

Yep, that's a very small jacket, with lots of tiny details! And lots of pieces - like 37(?) pieces plus zipper, eyelets and buckle! I found it a challenge to sew, although mainly because the faux leather was a bit too thick. It also couldn't be ironed into folds. I could press it with a press cloth, but it was springy and wouldn't begin to stay folded. So anything that needed pressed folds ended up being fold-as-you-sew... like that strip that made the quarter-folded belt loops... the belt loops that started out as a 1" wide strip and ended up being ¼" wide when finished. Yup... they were a challenge, to say the least.

Each time I made it through one difficult part, I'd think the worst was over. NOT! I think the hardest part of all was the very last part (not counting the belt, whose eyelets were a new experience for me)... hemming those tiny little sleeves. This pressed sleeve lining...

... had to go inside this outer sleeve that, yes, needed to be folded inward.

Wonder Clips were ever-so-helpful in this project...

... but they just seemed to get in the way here. I then found a forceps to be invaluable! I used it to pull the lining into place as I sewed, because my fingers were too big to work in that small space and hold things at the same time.

Yeah, that's a seam ripper in that photo. I had to make use of that a few times, too, unfortunately. But, I managed to get the project done... and in time for Christmas! So what if nobody got Christmas cards from us this year, right? ;)

What next? Umm... these canvas shoes somehow don't look right with the jacket:

Maybe something like this would be more appropriate, in some matching faux leather?

(Image from PixieFaire.com)

That pattern can be found here. Can I do it? I have plenty of eyelets and pleather. They really can't be any harder than the jacket! Can they???

Here's Miss Courtney on Christmas Eve, giving you another little size comparison of the jacket. It's actually about 6" across.

She was lucky enough to get another AG doll for Christmas! Will I make another jacket for that one, too? Maybe. But it won't be out of the same faux leather. Cute as it turned out, I just won't do it again. The pattern suggested micro suede, which I think would work considerably better. We'll see......