Baby It's Cold Outside: a Fast Finish with Windpro Fleece

Yesterday was a busy day... I wasn't planning on staying up late to sew.  After I we watched the local news and weather we went to bed.  I thought about the forecast...25 below windchill for this afternoon and tomorrow morning. Jon's (3rd grader) balaclava from last year was way too small.  Last year I purchased some Polartec Windpro Fleece and Lycra binding from Seattle Fabrics (my fav place for performance/boy tuff fabrics!) to make a new one, but hadn't sewn it yet.

So up I got, measured Jon's head while he was sleeping, quickly traced the pattern and cut the fabric out.  About an hour and half later, I was done.  Above you can see finished product and the pattern I modified, Kwik Sew 2920.  I wanted a smooth top to go under a hood with only an eye opening.

Here is a close up of the Lycra binding on the eye opening.  I have done Lycra binding before and it was so much easier with my new machine.  I used the 1/4 accufeed foot and it worked like a dream!

I didn't feel like changing the thread on my serger, so I used an overlock on my new machine on the seams...the finish looks more professional than my serger.

And most importantly, it was ready to wear this morning... it was just above zero so Jon walked to the bus stop. (If is colder, I generally drive him though it's only a house down.) 

And he's off...

And I'm off to change my thread and machine settings back so I can get to more HSTs.

PS: And I forgot to comment about the cost... I think you could get 2 of these from 5/8 yard of the WindPro fleece which is 20.95/yard.  Not cheap, but I'm certain I'd have paid $25-30 for a balaclava like this from REI or backcountry.com.