Evergreen Jacket

A moto jacket has been on my list for quite some time and this fall I finally got around to making one.  This one is Indiesew's Evergreen Jacket and it is an incredible pattern.

This pattern is designed for a knit, particularly interlock, french terry or sweatshirt fleece.  I went with the sweatshirt fleece, which I found at fabric.com along with the zippers.  

One thing to note, you do need some stretch with this pattern (at least 10% recommended), especially for the cuffs and waistband.  My sweatshirt fleece had virtually not stretch, so I made the cuffs a bit bigger.  I would have never been able to get them over my hands as per the pattern.  The pattern does include great fitting notes for different stretch fabrics.  These fitting notes help tremendously to select the correct size and after reading the notes, I went with a size large.  I did add one inch to the body of the jacket and the sleeves.  

I did do a bit more interfacing on the jacket, I added a strip of interfacing to any pattern piece that would be sewn to the front zipper.  I wanted to add some stability to the fabric.

The instructions for this pattern are excellent and the diagrams are very helpful.  I found it so easy to make the zippered pockets and the front zipper thanks to Hey June's  instructions.  I did take extra time to mark the front zipper pockets accurately and make sure both sides were at the same placement and equal size.
Here is the jacket opened, which I like but not near as much as I like the jacket closed.  

I do want to note, the jacket will zip all the way up and it fits across my bust but.... I went to zip this one up at the location for photos and it got caught a bit of fabric on the backside of the zipper!  I could not get the zipper to budge up or down.  So I just took photos with the zipper a bit lower than I would normally wear.

Here is the back with the yoke

More photos of the zippers and if you can't find the right color for the fabric go with a contrast.  I went with the black and that was easy to find the right size for the pockets and the front

Some other things that I did with my thicker sweatshirt fleece.  This one had quite a bit of polyester, so I had to use a press cloth at all times.  I graded my seam allowances around the zipper front and used a rubber mallet to pound the seams flatter.  

I am happy to  say, Meredith was able to get my zipper unstuck and I was able to get out of my jacket.  Hurray, it was 85 at the time of the photo shoot but fall has officially arrived this evening, it is cool and going to be only 70's tomorrow.

Happy fall!

 Disclosure - I was provided the pattern as a part of the Indiesew blogger team  but the opinions are all mine.