Fleece Jacket

Winters in Nor Cal call for a light coat/heavy jacket quite often. The little dress I made the other day for Lexy Lou is a bit chilly to wear on its own so I thought I'd make a cheap yet cuddly coat to go with it.

When she saw this fabric she was so disappointed that I hadn't chosen pink, but I told her it would make the pink  of the dress stand out. Do you think that tactic worked to make her feel better about the boring blue color? I found the McCalls pattern 5743 on a dollar rack at the fabric store and the polyester fleece was on sale for 5$ per yard. This is when sewing can be cheaper than buying off the rack.

In the 70's I sewed for two reasons.
1.  To save money
2.  To get long enough clothes for my legs and arms

Sewing in this century is for different reasons. It no longer is cheaper because costs for ready made have decreased so much over the past 30 years. I actually think my kids spend about the same $ for their childrens' clothing as I did for them when they were little 30 years ago. And I made 1980's $.

I could go off on a couple of tangents about this. Namely:
1. They can buy way more stuff for the money and more stuff = too much STUFF
or
2.  Taking care of stuff vs throwing it away blows my mind
or
3. Kid's appreciation factor goes way down when they can just have everything
or
4. They are really lucky to be able to buy cute cheap thing for their darling children

I usually don't sew for this particular reason anymore (to save money) because I'm often disappointed that you can find cheaper clothes already made. In this instance though, I think all you can find elsewhere is pink (insert another tangent here), so I opted to sew it for the reason of originality.

 No edges to finish on this thick fleece. Just sew and go.

I love the sleeves. A fun pattern for a fun girlie. Yes, she has been in our dress up box again.