I’ve been wanting to make a padded coverall for one/both of my grandchildren for a while and found one in my pattern folder that I must have bought a year or so ago when I first knew I was going to be a grandmother. It’s the Puperita Romper Coverall Foxy pattern.

I wanted to make a padded suit as my grandson is facing an English winter and Miss G probably needs a really thick suit for a trip to Hobart. I got out some cotton batting but saw that it had a shrink rate of 5% so wasn’t hugely confident it wouldn’t shrink when the suit was washed. I had a bit of a hunt and found a mattress protector which I had bought in error (wrong size) and which couldn’t be returned. It is pure cotton so suited my purposes beautifully. I cut out the top layer where the front pieces are cut on single layer of fabric. I cut out the lining the next day, completely forgetting that I had to mirror the front pieces. I was halfway round when I realised. Gah! With some pattern tetris I managed to cut everything out, so a crisis was averted. You can just see where I initially cut out the leg.

The outer layer is left over from a tracksuit I made for myself, which in turn was made from thrifted fabric. I bought 3metres for $3, which is a complete bargain for vintage cotton fleece.

The inner layer is leftover from something I made for my new grandson, and with the recycled mattress protector, I didn’t have to buy anything. The zip came from my thrifted zip stash and the knit for the cuffs came from my sister’s destash.

The three layers finished up being very thick. My machine handled it well but I’m not sure my hands did. In the end I overlocked the inside layer with the padding which reduced the seam thickness and held everything together. I’m going to make another one of these and I will be overlocking any appropriate layers together as I had basically finished when I found a couple of areas like this at the hood.

I just couldn’t see as I was working inside out trying to hold many layers together. I had to go back in and unpick and restitch the hood where it joined the body.

The cuffs are joined inside the two layers, which took me a while to figure out in spite of excellent instructions. The thickness of the fabric reduced the manoeuvrability somewhat.

The rest of the make was fairly straightforward. I will try to find a longer zip next time, to make it easier to get those legs in and out.

I’m not sure about the gusset. The legs seem quite a long way apart, especially with the padding. I did wonder about padding the gusset, but went for it in the end.

I was going to try this on Miss G but she was having none of it! So I just hope that it fits my new grandson for next winter, fingers crossed.

I love that the colour of the suit, together with the ears, does make it look a bit foxlike. I’ve had to sit the hood over my jar of crochet, but you get the idea!

I used a little piece of grosgrain for the hanging tag and a “Not for sale” label from Kyle and the Machine. I am also now putting size labels in my makes so the mothers have some idea of the sizing.

I thought you might enjoy this little video of Miss G clapping her granddad’s playing music with his nose!