A Christmas present for Olivia

Yes, it is already that time again. In fact, I have been working on Christmas presents for almost 2 months now (Maria and Isaac beware!!!). This one I am particularly proud of though. Which is probably why I am posting it now, a month and a half before Christmas. That, and Olivia doesn't read this blog so I don't have to worry about spoiling the Christmas morning surprise. Anyway, this present was inspired by a pattern. I was given this pattern and wanted to make it a nice warm coat. I was envisioning a thick wool coat with a nice warm liner to protect Olivia from the New Mexico winters. It gets cold here. I also wanted it nice enough that she could wear it to church. You know something a little fancy. Well I knew this pattern was just what I was looking for. However, I did not want to pay full price for the type of nice wool I was looking for. It was going to cost me almost $30 just for the fabric and to be honest, we just don't have that right now. So I went to Good Will and found this little number: A nice 100% wool coat. Albeit meant for an old lady, but with this pattern I was going to change that. I absolutely loved the color and knew it would look great on Olivia.The coat had a barely any wear to it. It was a nice wool coat. My mother-in-law even recognized the brand. Anyway I went to work completely taking apart the coat. It took about an hour with a seem ripper to take the coat apart. Then I cut out the pattern and picked out a different fabric for the lining. After about 3 hours of work total I ended up with this little beauty:
I am completely and utterly in love with it. I would have Olivia pose in it but since it is a Christmas present the modeling will have to wait. The best part is that it cost me $4!!!! Yes you read that right 4$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Perfect, don't you think???