Hello Internet Friends!

Happy New Year Everyone even though it’s like mid January now lol! (Although with the way all the days have been kind of merging together I still kinda feel like Christmas was only a week ago…..) I had intended to write a few posts over my holiday break/vacation but, like most of others I think, I found that I just needed to recharge over the break via some well earned couch sitting with some light sewing and knitting after such a crazy year. But now I’m feeling a bit more recharged and ready to tackle a whole new year of making and blog writing! I thought I’d start the year off with the last two of my 2020 makes, a set fleece jackets/sweaters for myself and the fluffy blonde monster which were perfect for holiday break lounging / quick trips to the shops for essentials.

I’ll start off with my jacket, this is the Zip Front Jacket and Hoodie from pattern from Jalie Patterns what drew me to this pattern was that it would be really easy to colour block which was something I really wanted from my fleece. I had been seeing a lot of colour blocked fleeces/sherpa fleece jackets around and wanted to make something similar. I had originally intended for my jacket to be made out of sherpa fleece but couldn’t find a source for the fabric easily so I went with this soft and warm poly fleece from Blackbird Fabrics instead.

I cut a straight size V and in an unusual twist for me I decided not to make any modifications to the length of the body or sleeves! I typically have to shorten everything but since I wanted a bit of an oversized feel to the final jacket left everything as is! The overall length is therefore a bit longer on me, with the hem band falling more on my thigh vs the hips but I think it adds to the cozy feel of the jacket. Plus I can 100% see myself using this on camping trips and things so having it be a bit longer is a plus!

For the sleeves I think I could have gone a smidge shorter as they are just that bit too long, however I think I may go back and add ‘thumb-holes’ to the cuffs which would help with the long length. I really like how the final jacket turned out, I played a bit with the colour blocking, using the sketch of the jacket that comes with the pattern to decide on the final placement. I feel that the grey sides and underarms add a bit of visual interest and make it just that little bit different from a plain fleece. Since I wasn’t quite sure if the colour blocking would work out I had bought enough of the pink colourway to make the entire jacket and was then of course left with quite a bit of fleece which I was able to cut a Seamwork Oliver sweater out of, so I really got two fleeces for the price of one!

For the FluffyBlondeMonster’s jacket I chose the Fleece Jacket pattern by Wardrobe by Me and a dark green fleece fabric also from Blackbird. The FluffyBlondeMonster has a really old oversized/baggy fleece that he’s had since about high school that he wears literally everywhere and on everyone of our camping trips so I wanted to make him something that would be a complement to that fleece (and to give that fleece a chance to be washed more frequently!) I don’t know if that fleece was as baggy originally when he bought it as it is now but I thought for this new version we would go with something a bit slimmer. Comparing the final measurements of the pattern in size XL to his old fleece this new jacket is about 1” slimmer in the chest which gives it a more updated feel right off the bat.

I was originally a bit hesitant to cut the size XL for the FluffyBlondeMonster as he’s usually a medium or between a medium and a large for most of the patterns that iv’e made for him but after comparing the rest of the final measurements for this size to the sweater he has I realized that the size XL would be fine. I later went back to the pattern and realized that it’s drafted for youth and adult sizes in one pattern which also helps explain the sizing difference. Other than the mods to the pockets that I’ll mention below I didn’t make any fit modifications.

For his version the FluffyBlondeMonster had a few requests/modifications…he decided that he didn’t want any colour blocking as his old fleece does have some (it’s black and an olive green) and that he didn’t want the chest pocket. He also requested that the zippers on the pockets be changed from invisible zips to regular zipper pockets (which I totally agree with, I think if I had done an invisible zip with this fleece it would have just been so fiddly to get the pocket open since the teeth on the invisible zips I have ready access to are very small. He also requested that I modify the pockets so that they function as an internal pocket as well, a feature he really loves about his older fleece. To accomplish this I omitted the pocket piece from the pattern and made two new rectangular pieces that went from the zipper opening of the pocket to the center front zipper. The shorter of these pieces I attachted to the zipper seam allowance closest to the center front and the other to the farther seam allowance to make a sort of pocket bag, I then attached the two pieces at the top to make a partially enclosed pocket bag. To reduce bulk I used a matching jersy fabric that I had kept (hording tendencies for the win!) and used the eventual hem of the jacket to close the bottom of the pokect by tucking the pocket bag into to it prior to hemming. To add structure to the pocket bag I attached the remaining end of the pocket bag to the center front seam which will keep the pocket bag in place while transfering some of the weight of whatever is in the pocket to the center front seam. I forgot to take pictures as I went but I hope the picture below helps explain what I mean :)

For a seemingly intimidating fabric like a fleece these two pieces sewed up really quick with the help of my trusty serger! I had originally kind of dreaded the prospect of sewing both of these with the called for 1/4” seam allowances on the serger but after a bit of trial and error I found that it wasn’t so bad as long as I didn’t sew too too fast and did a double check after each seam by trying to tug it apart to see if the seam had shifted during sewing resulting in a weak or missed seam. In the cases that that did happen I could simply go back, reposition the fabric correctly and re serge on top. OH and I somehow managed to remember to keep the directionality of the nap of the fleece to be the same without purposely making sure it was so let this be a reminder to do that if you are working with fleece! Nothing worse than having the nap of your fleece go one way on the front and another on the back or sleeve!

Hope this post inspires you to try your hand at sewing with some fleece! Stay safe out there friends!