This is the New Orleans Saints fleece jacket I just completed. A full zipper up jacket lined with anti-static Bemberg fleece so I won’t get electrocuted wearing it, and not just a fleece vest unlined like so much fleece wear you find. The project was the most inefficient and challenging I’ve taken up to date because I was trying too many new things at the same time.

• I had a new serger.
• I was custom fitting a pattern that had to be bigger than a shirt one I had.
• I was assembling the garment in an interesting way so that the exposed edges (like bottom) didn’t show the Bemberg lining that was different from the fleece.
• I was trying applique to the fleece in multiple layers in fine details and with curves.
• I was using patterned fleece, which is a whole different matter for design if you’re trying to use it as a design element rather than just something to add colour and/or suggest a theme.
• I was designing as I went, even, on top of all that!

My seam ripper was my best friend for a few weeks there, but I hate it so much now that I’d rather have Jack the Ripper for a best friend! But that’s all in the past now, mostly, because I’m moving on to other projects. That includes a slightly different cut Broncos fleece jacket coming in a month, I hope. I still have to find something to put on the black yoke of this jacket. That’s what I put the yoke there for, after all! However, sewing on smaller fleur-de-lis appliques, one yellow and one black on the two yokes, lined up properly, with a full jacket in tow, is not working for me. Something else will have to do, and not iron ons, either. I came up with the felt applique to solve that problem, to be able to applique anything I can get my hands on a design for, at any size practical. Besides, iron ons don’t stick to fleece.

A couple of other notes.

• The jacket fits me just a tad better than on the dress form, with no bust on me, and some shoulder blades on the back. With the 1000 hours I’m committing to sewing this year, and other projects expected to be less challenging than this one, mostly, I plan to have a few photoshoots in my fashion and create a catalogue by year’s end or early 2014. So pics of me in my fashions will have to wait.
• Those Saints looking generic fleur-de-lis buttons I found at Fabricville are going to be awesome for a Saints designer dress shirt I plan to be making later this year. Can’t wait! But I’ve got to take care of some other projects first.

Please click here to see more of the fashions I’ve designed and made.