a perfectly perfect hiking jacket | McCall's Pattern M5252

Beginning to feel a little better today, and it was great to get outdoors for a bit with my pup.  Methinks we color-coordinate well, no?!

Wanting a comfy fleece jacket, McCall's M5252 was purchased sometime last year. 

I made view B, standup collar, no hood and no extra breast pocket.  Wanted to keep my lines clean and simple.... and I don't use earbuds on my walks.  Sort of love listening to all the outdoor noises and sounds. 

This plaid fleece was also purchased sometime last year from Hancock's Fabrics, which is now out of business.  *insert sad face here as I loved Hancock's so very much*  Have absolutely no reason at all why I chose this pink/black plaid.  Not even sure I liked it that much and only used it here because it was taking up too much real estate room in the stash.  It was the only fleece I had on hand and I desperately wanted.... needed!..... a fleece jacket.  May I say I adore it now!!  

Took alllllll sorts of time matching plaid at the front.....

.......sides..... sleeves.... you name it.....

.....everywhere but the back!!!!  Okay, we'll just call it the asymmetrical look back here.  :)

Jacket runs big and the reviews were not very kind to this pattern.  I made a small and it is still slouchy on me.  But I like it slouchy as it will be easy to layer underneath.  Oh my gosh, this fleece is so warm!  Like wearing a comfy blanket!!  Only modification to the pattern was to shorten the sleeves a total of 3".  Pockets lined with gray corduroy.....

..... and inside collar also lined with leftover gray corduroy from my recent pants.  This makes a real cozy jacket when zipped all the way up.  A few things I did differently than the instructions suggested.... was to machine-stitch the collar to the zipper tape inside out..... then turn it right side out and carefully pin the turned under corduroy seam to the fleece and machine stitch that collar on all 'round.  Yes I did that.  Couldn't believe it!  Actually.... the whole story.... is that I was going to be too chicken to machine stitch the collar in this way.... and had it all carefully pinned for hand-stitching as per pattern instructions for the final step, when my sweet husband suggested we go out to eat for dinner that night.  And oh how badly I wanted to wear my new jacket out to dinner, so I bravely ran the entire thing through my machine and it stitched a perfect straight stitch both inside and out!  Could.not.believe.it!

Trying to show you how I covered the pocket bags with an inner lining of gray corduroy.  This is an unlined jacket and I did not want those pocket bags to be seen if I should wear this unzipped.  Took me a bit, but came up with a very workable solution that I love.  Sort of gives the front of the jacket some structure which is a nice bonus.  Most of the inner seams are also finished with 1/2" black twill tape.   A first for me and I really like this touch.

A fuzzy inside-out shot.  Don't know what was going on with my camera..... but you can see some of the finishing details.

A 30" YKK Nylon Separating zipper was special ordered from WAWAK Sewing Supplies   for this jacket.  Instructions call for a 28" zip, that I could not find, but it was easy to install the 30" and cut the extra off.  The zipper teeth are soft and it zips up and down oh-so-easily.  Aaannnnddddd WAWAK included a Chocolate Crunch Cookie with my order!  The original photo has evidently disappeared into cyberspace, so a screenshot of my IG account must do.  Let me tell you, this simple cookie made my day!!!  This was my first order from WAWAK and definitely will not be my last.  :)

And through our winter-dressed trees, you can see the shadows of the Great Smoky Mountains to our north.

EDITED TO ADD:  Because I'm trying to track all the things I make, I want to include the new pair of linen pants made from NewLook Pattern 6216 I'm wearing in all the above photographs.  Constructed exactly like the recent gray corduroys..... you can read about here.   In this photo below, they are paired with the Burda Jacket #120 01/2016  and a rtw cream turtleneck.

Happy Sewing Everyone!!  :)