I'm a firm believer that every problem has a fun solution if you think about it hard enough. I think we can all agree one of the problems uniting us right now is the price it costs to heat our homes (did I mention I'd bought a house idk). If you've been keeping up with me on insta or have had the pleasure of spending time with me in the real world, you will also know that I suffer from terrible circulation, and at the first sign of a temperature drop my hands start to throb and turn a red/white/grey colour.
My solution was to make a snuggly dressing gown that would hopefully stop me reaching to turn the thermostat up when I'm pottering around the my house. After seeing @CrafternoonTeas' super lovely New Look 6233 gown I knew this was exactly what I needed. It is made up from 2 fronts, a back, a straight neck band, two pockets and a tie for the waist, so there's no crazy shaping or fiddling about with collars with this one.
I do like things a little bit unusual, and initially was worried about how I was going to make my dressing gown fit this criteria. When I found this super soft giraffe fleece on the Minerva website though, I knew I'd hit the nail on the head. What is more unusual than a giraffe?! I can't get my head round it that they are not completely mythical. How do they even stay upright?!
Even when using a relatively easy pattern, sewing with fleece poses it's own unique challenges. Be prepared for FLUFF. Lots and lots of fluff. Just cutting out your pieces will create so much shedding, so be prepared and have the vacuum cleaner close at hand. This excess fluff in the seam allowances also poses as a potential issue if you don't manage it properly. Particularly where the seams meet, you run the risk of really bulky seam allowances, so my top tip would be to always grade the seam allowances and carefully trim the pile away from the fabric here.
The pile of the fabric also makes it tricky to get a neat edge stitch - I found this when top stitching the pockets. It's hard to see exactly where the fabric is, so if you're not careful it's easy to miss the edge completely and just catch the fluff! Or, I also found - you think you've done a really straight line but when the fluff settles you find it comes out a bit wobbly!
Luckily one of the benefits of having such a pile to the fabric means that with some gentle brushing around your topstitching you can hide, or at least partially camoflague your stitches underneath it all.
Irritatingly, attaching the pockets is the first step to making the dressing gown. I think if I'd done a few more practice runs I would have had a neater edge stitch to attach them. I would recommend doing a practice pocket on some scraps! Another thing to consider is that due to all the fluff, this fleece didn't seem to respond to pressing! So it was hard to get a clean, pressed edge to follow in the first place.
The only way I found to overcome the bulky and sometimes downright bouncey turn under when stitching the sleeve and bottom hem was to overlock the edge before turning it under. this sort of surpresses all the fibres and also creates a neat line to follow as you turn it under. I really love the chunky 2 inch hems on this garment. I used about 10000 pins and stitched it down from the top using a twin needle, both for the aesthetics of a double line of stitching and to ensure the edge on the underside was caught.
I took care cutting the front/neck band as I was eager not to have any upsideown giraffes and also didn't want to cut anyone in half. I think I did pretty well in lining up the sitchline down the giraffe noses for the left side and lining it up with their back legs for the right side. This kind of manoeuvre is always tricky when your fabric is directional or has a one way nap. Success though! No upsidedown safari animals and not one ended up sniffing another's bum !
I took 4 inches off the bottom of the gown in attempt to make it a little sexier (what man doesn't need a sexy giraffe in their life?) and I cut the tie on the crossgrain instead of the straight grain so the print was horizontal.
I'm really pleased with my make! Its so snuggly which was my main aim, and the yellow in the fabric goes well with my interior decor!
What fun animals have you been adorning your garments with this season?
x
Location: Hands Rd
Currently listening to: Must Be a Dream, Tempesst
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