Category: sewing

I was a 90s teen and I remember what we called “drug rugs” being so popular with the skater kids and the art kids in high school:

I, an orchestra kid, never felt cool enough to wear one, let alone tell my parents, “I want to buy a drug rug.” But I always secretly wanted one: The hood seemed so cozy! That front pocket looked so handy!

25-ish years later, you can still buy a “Baja hoodie” online or in interstate gas stations with names like Rip Griffin or Terrible Herbst–or you can find some serape-striped fleece and try making your own:

This is the Style Arc Kennedy Hooded Top in  polar fleece (of course) from Fabric.com. It had been a few (five) years since I last made a Style Arc pattern and I wasn’t nearly as bothered by the sparse instructions this time–I must be getting better. (I mean, I would hope I am, just based on the sheer volume of sewing in the last five years.)

Either way, this was a pretty straightforward sew. The pattern says it’s for knits but it’s so oversized you don’t need the stretch of a knit at all. I don’t think I need two drug rugs in my life now but it would be cool to make this up in a woven with lots of texture, like the originals.

So do I feel cool enough at 42 to wear this? The jury’s out on that; I haven’t worn it out of the house yet. The hood is cozy and the front pocket is handy and the stripe colors make me happy. I just have to channel my inner skater kid, I guess.

And I’m still averaging “one for them, one for me”–the hand print was a commission (as a gift!) and the vest was something I sneaked in for me while I had beige thread in all the machines:

The hand print is a Spoonflower fleece, which is soft and vibrant but just not all that fuzzy. The mountain print is part of the spring collection from La Maison du Joann (lol). I wore the vest yesterday but it’s still a little cold in the house to not be completely covered in fleece. Soon, though.

It feels weird! But it’s still fun to make these fleece pullovers, so I started offering custom ones on Instagram. Half the fun is shopping for fabric, so instead of setting up a website with fixed options, I’m working with people over direct messages and asking what kind of prints they’d like. Once we find a print and get a size, I sew it up.

I’m pretty much making Livable Minimum Wage ($15/hour) with these, so I don’t think they’re going to replace my day job–but like I said, they’re fun to sew and it’s really fun to see the pullovers on their new owners. (Pretty sure this is a magic pattern, it looks good on everybody.)

When I find myself in times of trouble, Joann Fabrics calls to me–
Speaking words of wisdom: “Let it fleece.”
Wear some fleece, wear some fleece, wear some fleece, wear some fleece…
Try a pair of fleece pants, let it fleece.

All I want to wear or sew or shop for is fuzzy polyester. It’s warm, it’s bright, it’s easy–everything we need in times of trouble. My latest obsession: fleece pants. You can wear them working from home:

You can wear them headed out of the house to pick up N95 masks:

And you can save about $75 by making them yourself (that farm-print yellow pair was directly inspired by this Patagonia pair for $89)–just use the Greentsyle Brassie Joggers pattern, size up, and boom. Let it fleece.

Back before the pandemic, my friends surprised me with a Stonemountain gift card when I was having a bad day at work. I used it to buy some leopard print ponte with the plan of making a two piece suit to interview in–the power suit that would get me a new job.

Back in November, my agency got sold. Things are weird, but cautiously better with the new owner? He wanted to do an agency Christmas party. He spent a good amount of time in an all-hands meeting talking about what to wear to the party (cocktail attire) and said he’d be wearing a suit.

Bingo.

I pulled out the ponte and the patterns I’d had printed out for nearly two years and made a suit in a week:

It sounds impressive, but this wasn’t actual tailoring, of course–ponte is a knit and the pattern I used (the Evans Blazer from Hey June Handmade) was unlined, so it went fast. I tried to do some nice finishes inside but I also serged and topstiched a lot of seams down. (The pants were my standby Greenstyle Brassie Joggers, which I’ve made upwards of 20 times now, so they went fast too.)

This didn’t really fit the definition of “cocktail attire” for women but 1.) I’m not about to wear spaghetti straps around my coworkers and 2.) I refuse to be cold or uncomfortable any more for dressy events. Also 3.) screw your gender norms, if dudes can wear a suit, so can I.

I had fun making it, I had fun wearing it, and now I have a power suit JUST IN CASE I still need a new job.

After she saw Doc’s Catagonia, my friend (who just adopted 2 more kittens) asked me to make one just like it for her son’s 11th birthday in January. Her own birthday was yesterday so while I was buying fleece over Thanksgiving, I saw this new arrival and thought, “Make one for her and mail them together!” And so I did:

This is Joann’s Blizzard Fleece in an amazing “Mod Cat” print. It’s their lightest weight but that worked out, since my friend lives in a warm climate. I finished the sleeves and hem with foldover elastic and used some Snap Source cap snaps I had, since KAM Snaps didn’t have an exact color match. (Of course I had to use some of that custom label order, too.)

My friend was so surprised and pleased when this was delivered Saturday–and I was so relieved it fit!

After I finished Doc’s Catagonia fleece and I posted about fashion fleeces, it was inevitable that I made one for myself. This is sherpa fleece from Joann and nylon supplex from The Rain Shed, with long prong KAM Snaps and wide foldover elastic (from Etsy) for the hems.

I used the Green Pepper Polar Pullover again, traced off in a small. I figured out there’s 9 inches of ease in the sizing–my measurements would have put me in a medium, but the small is still fashionably oversized.

The pattern has some nice finishing details that I didn’t show in Doc’s, including a covered neckline seam and a hanging loop:

This baby is WARM, almost as warm as a coat, so I’m not wearing it in the house yet since the weather is still pretty mild. But I can wear it out on walks or hikes and people will think, “What a cool Patagonia!”

Now that I don’t need office clothes (or any more clothes, really) I can sew practical things…for other people! Doc and I were at Joann when he saw this fleece and asked for a shirt. I’d been thinking about Patagonia fleeces and looking for pattern dupes so asked if he wanted something like the classic Patagonia “Snap Pullover.” He said yes and this project turned out better than I even hoped:

I used Green Pepper’s Polar Pullover, which is pretty much identical to Patagonia–but with a far more generous chest pocket under the flap. It was really well drafted with thorough instructions (even if you don’t have a serger).

I found new-to-me plastic KAM Snaps for the placket and I was really pleased with them–easy to set with their hand tool and a very “ready-to-wear” look when they’re in:

And yes, my favorite part of this is the “branding.” I impulse bought the minimum order from Dutch Label Shop and just picked the font that was closest to the Patagonia mark. Is it ridiculous? Yes. Do I love it? Yes.

Doc usually runs hot and this fleece is WARM, but he wore it to “Feline Friday” at work where it was hailed as the most epic cat shirt yet. I have to agree!