I am not entirely sure what possessed me to actually say “yes” to his whimsical desire, but he kept asking and I finally broke down and agreed to the request.
Let me preface this by saying that this request was no small undertaking. It was certainly not as difficult as I thought it would be but it was no small undertaking.
I purchased the insane amounts of fleece. I am not sure what convinced me to actually buy fleece again except for the price because I hate fleece. I hate cutting it and I hate sewing it. Kyle wanted soft and warm. He wanted red. After shopping at 4 different stores, I decided that fleece was going to have to work for this project because it was the best price at $4.99 per yard with an additional 20% off total purchase. At 6 yards of fabric that was still going to add up fairly quickly.
I even purchased a cheap $1.97 pair of scissors to cut it with so that I would not dull another pair of my good scissors on this project. I mean I was cutting nearly 6 yards of fleece, that is a lot of fleece to cut and it is known for its ability to dull a pair of scissors in much less than that.
I had my pattern. Honestly you do not need the pattern, but I found it useful as it had the armhole placement and the sleeves. Everything was already there. I did not use the pocket provided with the pattern. I traced the pocket off the front of a hoodie and used that style of pocket instead. I was going to do a foot pocket inside, but decided that this was long enough that it was not needed and Kyle did not really care one way or the other.
Cutting it out is just a matter of:
- cutting the body
- cutting the armholes in the body
- cutting the sleeves
- cutting the front pocket.
There is not much more to it. The body is a huge rectangle cut on the fold. The sleeves are rectangles cut on the fold. The armholes are cut out of the body a little way from the top. The sleeves are sewn together and then sewn into the armhole. The front pocket was just a large rectangle with the top corners cut out of them. It is sewn on the front. There is not much to it.
The pattern called for a button and elastic look closure at the neck. I did not include it. Kyle did not care that it had it on there. I did not purchase the elastic. I told him I could add it in a few days when I got it. He said that he did not care. After looking at how much fabric there is in the back at the neck of this thing, I do not believe it is totally necessary if you get one side over the other like a blanker wrapped around yourself. It will stay closed fairly well. There is a lot of fabric at the back of the neck. There is actually a lot of fabric all over. I am 5’6″ and I was swimming in it even though I am a bit bulkier than Kyle is.
I was skeptical that it would really be all that warm because I did not purchase the heaviest fleece I could buy. I did not buy the cheapest or thinnest fleece I could find, I just bought what I thought was sturdy and felt nice and soft but was on a good sale at the time. I have to say that after curling up in this the couple of times that I have managed to get it away from him, it is very warm and very comfortable. I actually think that it is a worthwhile project and gift. Kyle LOVES it. Lance wants me to make him one in green. Andrew is indifferent. Ben wants one in maroon.
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