Origins - Pearly Wannabe Jacket

Butterick 3573 is out of print
But several web vendors still carry this classic fleece jacket pattern

I had so many ideas when I began working on the red plaid fleece jacket project I titled The Pearly Wannabe.

I'm going to start by telling you more about the pattern I started with - a pattern I made many alterations to, but the basic fit around my shoulders and in the sleeves remained.

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I've been sewing this classic fleece jacket pattern, Butterick 3573 for about  eight years. The first version I made was the one on the far left, that buttons all the way up with no collar. I still have it - green fleece with pretty green leaves machine embroidered run up one side. I faced the inside with tapestry print home dec, and added a pocket out of tapestry print as well. The pocket is just big enough to hold my original iPod which was a new device for me when I first sewed this garment. Alas, my current mobile device is too wide to fit! That was when I still only used one layer of fleece.

Since then I've sewn the jacket several more times. I quickly found that I liked making the jacket front and back out of two layers of fleece, leaving only the sleeves to stand alone in one layer. The jacket takes well to ornamentation and cute buttons. A pocket is always nice, though the original pattern doesn't have that option. I tend to make the jacket a little past the hip, with a simple collar. I don't usually button it all the way up.

I've also converted the pattern into a sports vest. Remember when I talked about that in my podcast? I do that by
a) Lengthening the front and back
b) Angling the front and back out
c) Leaving open vents up the sides to about the length of the jacket length
d) Leaving off the sleeves
e) Creating a seam or fold on the center front and sewing in a separating sports-type/heavy weight zipper

I double the fleece on my sports vests too.

In the next post I'll talk about how I changed the pattern.