Fleece Vest - Simplicity 9191 or Simplicity R10902

 I found this pattern with the new releases from Simplicity and it seemed like it would be perfect for my husband:

I did show the pattern to my husband and he said "That perfect.  I was looking for a vest."  So, my impromptu purchase was right on target.  How lucky is that?

With the pattern being approved, I had to decide on fabric.  Although it is always more interesting to look for fresh, new fabric, I decided to check the fleece stash and see what was there.  I found that I had a piece of windpro fleece in navy that was perfect for the pattern.  So sometimes the stash does yield useful fabric.  Here's a glance at the fabric:

Now, this fabric is very heavy/thick which means that I will not being using this fabric as a facing anywhere within the garment.  Searching the local Joann Fabrics online I found a performance fabric that seemed like it would work for facings and such:

The fabric turned out to be a knit fabric which isn't ideal but I'm going to use it.  Testing with this fabric indicated that it will not work for the vest. So, off I went to fabric dot com and found this fabric:

This is a nylon ripstop in black.  

Zippers have been ordered from Etsy.  Finding zippers locally are almost impossible so I didn't even look to see if they had any.  Please note that the pattern states that you need a 26" zipper not that you need a 26" separating zipper.  

The pattern does include some basic sewing techniques for boiled wool, fleece, and knits.  I was surprised to see instructions for removing the seam allowances for the sleeves from the vest pieces.  This is the first time I have seen these instructions in a pattern.  Although I do see instruction for applying interfacing to the fleece, not too sure about this.  With that said, I generally only keep fusible interfacing in my stash.

Here's the finished vest:

The vest turned out rather nice.  My husband likes the vest and is happy to wear it.  

I used plastic zippers for all of the pockets as well as the front zip.  The zip pocket zips would work better with an invisible zipper, I think.  The side pockets are little small to be useful.  They would carry car keys, an id, and maybe a little bit of money but they aren't really big enough to put your hands into.  I will definitely put some notes in the pattern so that I will know in the future what changes should/could be made and that I need to figure out the whole pocket revision.

Happy Stitching!