Two weeks before Christmas, my husband decided it would be a great idea to make the kids each a fleece robe for Christmas morning. Thankfully I am reasonably quick with projects otherwise I might have strangled him. So we took the kids to Joann Fabrics and let them each pick out their fleece fabric. After much deliberation, my son chose Batman (of course) and my daughter chose a purple fabric with green frogs on it.
Fabric – The pattern called for about 2 yards of fabric, depending on the size you are using (it is size 3-8, my approximation after finishing the project is that size 3 is for around 4T/5T). I made size 4, which I know is going to be big on both my kids, but I’d like them to be able to wear the robes for several years. I got away with using 1-1/2 yards for the size 4. I think fleece is the easiest choice because you don’t need to finish your seams as the fleece doesn’t fray.
Pattern Pieces – There were 7 pattern pieces to cut out for the robe pattern. There is a pocket on each side of the front of the robe, which I really like.
Illustrations/Instructions – Normally commercial sewing patterns like this confuse me, but this one is a no-brainer. There are very few steps to sewing this, and I’m not sure if it could be any easier. Which is a good thing 2 weeks before Christmas.
The back of the pattern also calls for seam binding. I had never used seam binding before, so I Googled it to see what exactly it was and what you did with it. Basically, in stretchy fabrics, where the front and back panels meet at the top of the shoulders, you use this binding in order to keep the fabric at the neck/shoulder from stretching. Makes sense. However, when I was researching this, I noticed that several people mentioned that they just made their own binding. So all I did was cut 1/2″ strip of the fleece fabric the length of the seam where you sew the front and back panels together at the shoulder (about 5″), and when I sewed the shoulder seam together, I just replaced the seam binding with my little fleece strip. So as I sewed, the back panel was on the bottom, the front panel was the middle layer, and the fleece strip was the top layer. Since I had never done this before, I checked the shoulder area, and yep…it doesn’t stretch at all. So my homemade seam binding worked out perfectly (however, if you’re making something more elaborate than a robe, you’ll probably want to actually made binding as opposed to one straight strip like I did).
Conclusion – A beginner could definitely sew up this robe. There are no special skills required. If you can sew a straight line, you can do this. The only other thing you would need to do is have a turning tool to turn the belt right side out after you’ve sewn it. Very easy, and it turned out great! I can’t wait to see my kids wearing their new robes on Christmas morning!
Too cool!
Where is the pattern? I’m confused.
I also don’t see the pattern.