Or, a new suit for my hubby, lol.  I tease him about his robe wearing, and he came back with “don’t laugh at my suit”, lol. 

Bill’s New “Suit”, a Thick Sherpa Bathrobe

I used a vintage Stretch and Sew pattern, #2000, Classic Robes pattern that has been in my “often used” collection for years.   

The fabric is well aged, over 22 years old.  I bought it on sale (of course) at a Fabricland in Cobourg when I lived nearby.  The reason it was on sale ( I guess) was that it was so badly twisted at one selvedge that the plaids didn’t match up at the edge.  I had 3 meters, and I knew that Bill wouldn’t care about matching plaids.  I chose to make the full length shawl collared version with a few modifications.

This sherpa fabric is very thick and although I used my serger for quite a few of the seams, it wasn’t happy about it.  I had to help the fabric along under the presser foot.  The plus side of that though is that the serger stitches blended into the plush of the fabric really well.  I used that to my advantage in a number of places:

• Omitted the front facing entirely and I used my serger with a 4-thread overlock stitch to edge-finish it.
• the upper pocket (cut on the bias to avoid plaid matching)(the only pocket he uses) was edge-finished with the 4-thread overlock stitch, then all I did was turn the pocket top to the inside and hemmed it with my sewing machine.  I sewed it into place “raw”, without turning the edges under. The serger threads seem to bury themselves into the thick sherpa.
• Avoid thick seams by serging the belt with wrong sides together and not turning it.  I started and ended the serging with long thread tails so I could thread them to the inside.
• Cutting the belt loops as a single layer then edge-finishing with the same 4-thread overlock makes them thinner and easier to insert into the sideseams.

• I added a “hanging loop” at the center back neck, made the same way as the belt loops.

•  Using a “flat-lock” stitch built into my sewing machine was a good choice for hemming.  It’s a sturdy stitch that hides really well in the plush of the sherpa.

In Conclusion

This thick sherpa bathrobe turned out really well, and Bill REALLY likes it, too.

I love to sew for him as he really appreciates it.  Here’s a post reviewing Jalie’s Maxime 3-season jacket that I made for him. And here’s one about Jalie’s Victor Shorts.