As some of you may be aware, Mitch is a stud and rides his bike to work. Since it is finally getting cold, he hauled out all of his cold weather gear, as he does every year. Somehow, there always seems to be an integral component that we just can't find. This year it was his fleece ear warmer. So I thought I'd give a go at copying it, rather than forking over 20 bucks to Academy (again).
So, here it is! This is my first attempt, to which Mitch declares, "That looks fine." High praise from him. It is a piece of scrap fleece bound with FOE. The narrow part covers the forehead and it widens to cover the ears and back of the neck, without any bulkiness to get in the way of the helmet. Pretty cool, huh? Although I think this one is pretty OK, I think that it is a bit thin and it bunches up a bit at the back of his neck, so I'm going to give it another go, this time with two layers of fleece, and more curve at the back of the neck.
And, lest you think the jacket has fallen by the wayside, here is my progress so far!
The lining is fully constructed. I think the fit is good. (Whew! Since I didn't muslin!) I am currently hand basting the underlining to the
boucle, so that may take me a while. I am a really slow baster.
From the front - The fit is fine. There is a little bit of overlap at CF, which I don't need. Otherwise it is good.
Side - I am really wishing that I had just gone for the two piece sleeve. This one isn't as sleek as I'd like, but it was easy to match the plaids!
Back - The fit in the back is absolutely perfect. Can you tell there is a seam at CB? Mad skills...
Here is a close up of the trim, before it was sewn on.
And, of course, what is a Chanel jacket without a chain? I got mine at Home Depot - Sh! Don't tell!
Well, I guess it's really a vest at this point. As you can see, the fit is awesome and the plaid matching went well.
The trickiest part for some reason was the back. I expected to have trouble with those curvy eased princess seams, but the front went in like a dream. In fact, for the first side I didn't even line up the plaids before I sewed. They matched up all by themselves - sweet.
This was the spot on the back that gave me the most trouble. I'm sure you can imagine why! Don't do this to yourself! When placing a vertical and horizontal intersection do not put it on spot where you have to ease an inward curve into an outward curve!! There was much ripping of seams to get this right, which is probably why I need a break now.
