Fleece Jacket/Top: on deck

After several months of debating about it, I finally bought McCall's pattern M5538 for fleece tops/jackets (unlined). I'm really excited to try it out, and am not sure what took me so long to do so.

Here is a picture from McCall's website of the pattern options (M5538)

I will be making the two styles in the middle (blue on the left, and orange on the right) The partial zip top is for Hubby, and the full zip jacket is for me.

Super nerdy, but we both wanted charcoal fleece... so yes, we will be close to matching. Guess that means I better make a jacket for Beagle too than hahaha.

Anyways, I recently placed my order for the fleece, so hopefully it will get here soon. I'll be cutting out the pattern in the mean time.

Butterick B5335 Jacket (view A)

The Butterick Jacket pattern B5335 (view A) I've been working on is complete! (ok, almost, I need to pick up some large snap closures to sew on the front. Trips to fabric stores don't happen often though, so I didn't want to wait that long to post about it)

Click on the following links to see posts on early stages and middle stages of sewing this pattern.

front view Butterick B5335 Jacket View A

If you didn't think the front looked crazy.... check out the back:

back view Butterick B5335 Jacket View A

On the back of the jacket, I shortened the belt by about 4 inches to make it a little more fitted. But, as you can see it's a bit bunchy that way.

lining Butterick B5335 Jacket View A

I'm not sure my thoughts on this one yet... it's a little crazy but maybe not too bad

My husband, the boxer...

I gave the robe I made for Hubby to him for his birthday, but he got his main present a couple of weeks earlier. It was a punching bag and gloves. With the gap in time between the gifts, I didn't realize how funny of a combination it was. Hubby was pretty amused...

Easy McCalls M8524 (Men's robe)

Here's a look at the completed Men's robe I made for Hubby. The pattern I used was Easy McCalls M8524, view A. My previous post has a picture from the pattern envelope of M8524 view A

(I asked Hubby if he'd model his new robe. He said yes, but insisted on holding a coffee mug :) )

This pattern was a very easy sew and didn't take too long to make. The only thing that took much time was cutting the fabric, since I had to make sure the checkered pattern would match up correctly at all the seams (or as many as possible). I straight stitched and zig-zagged all the seams.

Since I cut all of the fabric on the grain, the accents (edging and pockets) all blend in with the print. I'm a little curious what it would have looked like had I cut those on the bias, but that would have taken way too much extra fabric (that we didn't have).

Middle stages of Butterick B5335 jacket (View A)

The Butterick jacket I'm working on is taking better shape now as is two thirds of the way done. Now it looks a bit less "institutional", which is good, but it's crazy billowy! I'm curious to see how it will actually turn out...

Click to see my post on the early stages of Butterick B5335 jacket

Most reviews I've read on this pattern (B5335 View A) said they shortened the belt (on the back of the jacket) by a couple of inches. I tried sewing it as the pattern called for, but ultimately shortened mine by about 4 inches. This gives the back more definition, though it appears somewhat bunchy. I was debating about putting darts in, but that doesn't seem like it goes with the feel of the jacket. Maybe though... we'll see.


And for the pictures:

B5335 View A front
The front of the jacket at the stage right before the lining is sewn in

B5335 View A back

The back of the jacket at the stage right before the lining is sewn in

B5335 lining

The lining, almost ready to be sewn into the jacket

I had to take a picture of the lining spread out before sewing it to the jacket. Of course, literally 2 seconds after I throw the lining on the ground my cat (who was sleeping, mind you) noticed and had to try to run and lay on it. Gotta love it :)

Early stages of Butterick B5335 Jacket (view A)

The fabric I picked out to sew Butterick B5335 View A, arrived in the mail the other day. (check out this post) As you can see (which I knew was going to happen) it is pretty hard to figure out exactly what you're getting when ordering on-line. The threads are much more vibrant than the fabric, and aren't a match.


Luckily, I had a little bit (hopefully enough) of thread in my stash already that is the perfect shade of purple, and tan thread blends in well with the pale yellow lining.


I think items are returnable on fabric.com where I ordered this stuff from, but I figure I'll have a use for it sooner or later anyways :)

I'm about a third of the way through making the jacket and don't have the highest of hopes for its outcome at the moment. My first thoughts (before pleating or adding any shape to it) were that the jacket looked a bit institutional (glad I didn't go with white fabric!) But it might turn around in the upcoming steps.

I left off by putting the pleats on one of the sleeves. Things may start looking better... (?)

This is one of those patterns I've been so curious about for so long... I just had to try sewing it. It doesn't really look like something I'd wear, but I still couldn't resist, maybe it is?!

Also in the line up: Mens robe

Hubby & I made a trip to Joanns the other day. I was so excited! Just seeing there was a 99 cent sale for McCalls patterns made my day. I tried to hurry (for hubby's sake) but still found some cute patterns to make later.

Luckily hubby got something out of the trip too. He has been asking me to make him a robe for awhile now, but I wanted him to pick out the fabric. With yard requirements finally in hand, we made several circles through the store. He narrowed the choices down, and after much debate, decided on some blue checkered flannel. I hope he likes it when it's done!

Here's a picture from the McCalls pattern website of the pattern I'll be using, it's: Easy McCalls M8524 Easy McCalls M8524

Knitting needles: set #2 (scarf)

My other current knitting project is a scarf. Luckily (not to jinx it) I think we're out of the scarf season where I live so I'm not in too much of a hurry to get this project done!

My Mom met a lady last year at farmers market who has a few pet sheep, and she spins their wool into yarn. I was really excited about that, so she picked up a ball of yarn to try out. Here's what it looks like so far: (the yarn has varying thickness)



This is my "mindless" project since it is straight knitting from start to finish. Some days I just don't feel like thinking about a pattern and this is the perfect thing for it.

waiting on some fabric

I made another order at fabric.com, and can't wait for it to get here! I must say, I'm a little nervious how the colors will actually look in person, but hopefully they work out.

I ordered a light purple linen, and light yellow lining to make this jacket:

It's view A from Butterick pattern B5335 (the above picture is from the Butterick website) I've had this pattern sitting around in my sewing room ever since a $0.99 sale a couple of years ago, I see that it is now out-of-print. The jacket is a little crazy looking for me, but something drew me to this design so I'm going to give it a try. Maybe it's me, and I just don't know it yet!

Knitting needles: Set 1 (baby blanket)

Here's what I have currently on 1 set of knitting needles: (I like to have multiple projects going at once)

After crocheting this beast of a blanket, I decided I wanted to make another blanket... but one that took much less time and was much smaller. That is when I bought some yarn and started knitting a baby blanket pattern.

I used a pattern from Bernat yarn that comes on the package. It was supposed to be easy, but man, did I have troubles getting this thing started!

I'm pretty sure that the pattern tells you to cast on the wrong number of stitches. By the time I figured out a multiple of stitches that would complete the pattern, I had already started, torn apart, and restarted this pattern 7 or 8 times. (that's A LOT of wasted stitches, and it was pretty frustrating)

But, I kept on re-starting this pattern because I thought it was really cute. Plus, I knew if I didn't make this specific pattern, the yarn would sit in my craft cupboard untouched, forever.

Once I figured out the multiple of stitches needed for this pattern to work, it all clicked. Whew. I used stitch markers at the end of each cycle of the pattern to double check my work and now things are going well!

I've created a monster!

After seeing the football fabric, hubby decided cloth diapers were a neat idea to make either as gifts, or a stockpile for way down the road. I also periodically think about setting up an etsy account and making a variety of things to sell, but haven't taken the plunge yet. Anyways, I thought it'd be funny to embroider a saying onto a diaper, so I made one that says "If I smell bad... get my Dad!" across the back. Hubby got a kick out of it and then throughout the day kept laughing out loud. I'd say, "what's so funny?" and he'd hesitate. Then he'd (still laughing) blurt out a saying to embroider onto a diaper or bib, and insist that I write it down so we don't forget.

I have to say, hubs is pretty funny and good at coming up with one liners to embroider! I was not expecting this much enthusiasm though :)