Fabulous Free Pattern Friday

The Circle Jacket
I've seen a lot of these around. They are far too easy to make, so no reason to buy.

Back view.

 I made mine from a double faced wool fleece that I bought at Vogue Fabrics some time ago.

If you'll remember, we did the circular skirt a while back, so this is really just a repeat with a few changes. I basically used the entire width of my fabric. Fold the fabric into fourths. If your fabric is 60 inches wide, then the line for the hemline will measure 30 inches from the apex of the fold.

Since this is a jacket, we will need the measurement of our neck rather than our waist. Since this is a full circle, the formula is your neck measurement minus one inch divided by 6. My neck measured approximately 13 inches (I made this really easy for myself!). Subtract 1 inch from 13 and that will be 12. Divide 12 by 6 and the result will be 2. So from the apex measure down 2 inches all around.

Once the pattern is cut it will look like the above picture.

 We need a center front opening so cut an opening up to the neckline.

I decided to round off my edges. I thought it would look a little nicer. This is a design detail so you are welcome to have square corners.

To give this jacket some fit, you will want to sew a line on either side of center front. This should be approximately half your hip measurement plus a few inches for ease. Remember you will possibly wear this over a sweater.

 My sewing line is difficult to see, but that is what I am trying to show in the above picture.

For my closure, I used the circle that I cut for the neck opening and did a running stitch around it about a half inch from the edge. Once it was pulled up, it formed a type of a shank. I then sewed this to the jacket. For the loop, I simply cut a piece from the selvage edge, zigzagged it down and left the tails.

To finish the edges, I just turned back the edge and did a zigzag stitch.
There are so many things you can do with this, maybe do it in fleece using the colors from your favorite college football team. It would also make a great gift, and the nice thing about it is that you wouldn't have to ask anyone for their waist measurement. I think neckline measurements are a little more forgiving and you can always make a matching scarf. Something like this is perfect for the cool fall temperatures or for those of you who live in warmer climates, this might be enough for your more moderate winters.
Hope you have all had a wonderful week. Now on to the weekend!
Rhonda