Peek-A-Boo Riverside Robe

I’ve put off sewing a fleece robe for 2 years, almost as long as I have been sewing. Why? First, I was not looking forward to tracing out the pattern. B (or second), I was not looking forward to cutting out long pieces of fabric that wouldn’t fit on my sewing table, so I’d have to get on the floor and cut out fabric. Third, I hate sewing with fleece. IV (or D or Fourth), if you are a Doctor Who fan, I hope you got my joke…

Details

• Pattern: Peek-A-Boo Riverside Robe
• Fabric: Joann Blizzard Fleece
• Size: XL (Ryan’s chest measures 43″ right now)
• Modifications: 1/2″ forward shoulder adjustment

Peek-A-Boo Pattern Shop did a marvelous job with their PDF pattern. I was dreading having to tape together a long and tedious PDF pattern separately for Ryan and then myself. The pattern was intelligibly designed so that the front and back pieces are actually the same and the sizes are graded in such a way that you can start out cutting the larger size, and then cut down to smaller sizes when needed. My fear of having to tape together a front piece and a back piece was instantly solved when I started putting the pattern together.

Because the front and back pattern pieces had the exact same shoulder, that’s when I decided to do a ½” forward thrusting shoulder adjustment. I’m glad I just went ahead and did that adjustment, because the robe fits perfectly on the shoulders now. Not that it would have been a big deal to have the shoulder seam wrongly placed, but it’s always nice when the garment is balanced on the shoulders.

One comment about the pattern is that it wasn’t always clear whether you should use a sewing machine or serger to make your garment? I used my sewing machine. Fleece doesn’t fray, so I wasn’t worried about raw edges. With my sewing machine, you sew the shoulder seams and side seams first. That was easy. Then you sew the sleeves together and attach the cuffs. Next, you sew the sleeves to the main body of the robe. The sleeves are designed to be very relaxed and forgiving so putting the sleeves in was absolutely no problem. Finally, you sew the cowl together and attach it to the robe. I still haven’t decided if using the serger would have been better. I think when I make myself a robe, I’ll try the serger and compare with Ryan’s robe. Good to know though that if you don’t have a serger, you can definitely make this robe still.

I skipped a couple of steps with the robe. I didn’t add pockets. I have reasons 😉 I also didn’t add the hang tag or loops to hold the belt. Instead, after I made the belt and had Ryan place it where he wants it, I sewed it directly to the robe down the center in the back. You can’t even tell from the photos, but the belt is definitely sewn directly to the robe.

My final thoughts on the robe are thus. The PDF pattern was great to work with. The instructions on how to make the robe were less optimal. Working with fleece wasn’t actually that bad and now that I have a large sewing / cutting table, cutting out the fabric wasn’t all that traumatic. The pattern itself is a really great fit, except that I’m going to have to add 6″ of length so it will hit right above Ryan’s knee. Ryan is 6’5″ so it is understandable that things aren’t long enough; however, the arm length does seem to be spot on. For an easy project that’s going to be super useful this winter, I’m so glad I finally made this robe and got it off my to do list!