I’m pretty excited about our first men’s pattern. But first, I need to take a timeout.
You guys. I swear I was trying to take pictures of my new fleece pattern. As I was going through the pictures, I noticed that I’d have 5 close-ups for every one picture of the whole pullover. It kind of made me laugh, but then it got me thinking. This man makes 5 out of 4 possible. Every time I meet someone who says, “I don’t know how you do it,” I sort of stammer out something about not sleeping or sewing to keep from drinking, but in reality, it’s this man. I’m not really a mushy, lay it all out there kind of person, but I enjoyed looking at these pictures. I was zooming in on what was important.
**Back to our regularly planned blog**
Cough cough–is this thing on? Where was I?
Our first men’s pattern is a quarter zip pullover. It has options for a 9″ (traditional) or 12″ zipper. I’ve also included on seam pockets that have an invisible zipper. The pockets are big enough for your hands, but they were originally intended to be a pocket where you could stash something. See, my husband is a diabetic. He has to carry around his blood sugar monitor and his pen and sometimes I make jokes about how he needs a man-purse. (I’m so witty.) As I was designing this pattern, I thought I’d sneak in a little pocket for his gear. In the first fleece I made for him, he said, “This pocket would be great for keeping my hands warm when I’m waiting for the train!” I pointed out that wasn’t my intention and what I thought it would be good for instead. He thought that was great, but thought he’d really like to have warm hands too. 😉 I let this marinate a bit because I didn’t like having the pockets so far back. Technically, they should be a few inches in front of the side seam if they’re going to be used for your hands. In the end, I went ahead with it because I figured I could always write a blog post on how to insert pockets in front of the seam if you wanted them.
As I handed him his new fleece pullover to try on, my husband let out an audible sigh of relief. I’m sure my raised eyebrows gave him a good chuckle and he said, “This looks store bought! I mean, I knew you could sew, but when I was trying on the prototypes, all of the fleece felt so thick and stiff; but this feels perfect!” The best part? I was able to get this microfleece at JoAnn’s. I’m so happy that both JoAnn’s and Hancock are starting to sell solid-colored microfleece (versus baby prints). I feel like they offer a ridiculous amount of different kinds of fleece already. And yes, it is different. The Glacier and Blizzard fleece will pill a lot more quickly than the anti-pill fleece. Microfleece is the thinnest and most flexible type of fleece and is also incredibly soft. Some of the testers used sweatshirt fleece, french terry, and sweater knit with fantastic results as well.
There is one notion that I HIGHLY recommend when you make this pattern and it’s Wash Away Wonder Tape. When I use pins, I find that the fabric shifts when I remove the pins. When I use wonder tape, I can strategically pin in only a few places and my fabric stays put exactly where I need it to be. For this pattern, I used it to insert my zipper and for the inside of my collar. We’re now affiliates with Wawak, so we’re able to get you a little discount on an order of $40 or more. Check out the sidebar for the ad with the coupon code!
Okay, I’ll stop babbling and show you some of my favorites from the test group. I love it when the testers bring a lot of their own style to a design. It really helps open up my vision for how many different ways this pattern can be used.
I also had a few testers use this pattern for kids. It works, but you definitely need to measure sleeve length and body length to make sure the final product won’t be too long. There is a really helpful guide in the pattern tutorial to show you where to measure.
And last, but not least, I had one tester who knew what would really happen. She’d end up “borrowing” her husband’s fleece. That has already happened in this house too, so maybe I should get to work on a women’s version!
The Men’s Sierra Fleece Pullover will be on sale through Tuesday, October 13th.
What kind of fabric do you think your husband would like best?
Make sure you come join us in our Facebook group to show off what you’ve made!
And here’s one last picture to show that he really does smile.
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