Kwik Sew 3621 Finished - Last Polartec of the week . . .

Yeah!!
Polartec project 2 finished.

Yes, I finally finished another project - Kwik Sew 3621 - which, by the way is simply not made for Polartec.  I wanted to make a jacket out of my Polar material that was not quite so "sporty."  So, I chose a pattern that was for a cover-up.  I love the pattern and will probably use it again soon!

 It's perfect for beach wear.  My material was Micro-Polartec fleece.  Unfortunately, for me I ran out of material and substituted some earlier and heavier Polartec (300) for the hood.

The end result is the hood was definitely difficult to get straight because of the thickness of the layers (6 layers??).  I want to rip it out now and put in some bamboo jersey!  But since I finished even the inside seams I will wait until I return from Alaska for this!  Perfect pattern - the only problems I had were with my sewing!

First, I do need some advice about how to sew straight lines.  As you can tell I had to resew the lines three-four times for the front panel.  Perhaps it was the thickness of the material but I even had trouble with my Colette pattern a few months ago.   Tips are welcome - I'm careful when I sew to use an exact 1/4" seam (in this case) and I'm pretty careful with cutting the materials.  . . I may just need to "season" as a seamstress, or alternatively, take private lessons.

The other difficulty with this pattern is that I had trouble finishing the sleeves and bottom.  I've since ordered finished stretch binding from www.questoutfitters.com and am awaiting the arrival of this wonder material.  I tried fleece binding with no success  - it's a bit sturdy.  So for the sleeves I used a stretch finished elastic binding (the same kind used for lingerie) and it worked pretty well.  When I return from my trip and receive the stretch binding I am going to redo the hem on this item.

Has everyone seen Colette post on 10 ways to ruin your sewing.  I believe I failed items #1 - #4.  Seriously, I need to work on this.

Finally, it's a bit ridiculous that I am "sewing" all this polar fleece since I do live a mile or two from Patagonia HQ - and an outlet is nearby.

But, I can't help it - I want what I want and some of the Patagonia designs are simply not "fashion forward" enough for me.  Although I am not suggesting that my designs are there yet!   That said - I'm pausing my other two polartec projects (I think) until my return.  Plus, I can't wait to sew with non-polar fabrics:)  A nice cotton dress, please.