Fibremood – Irma Bodywarmer – Stitched Up Closet

More than a month ago, Maider convinced me to sew the Fibremood Irma Bodywarmer and publish both our versins on the same day, so here are our projects!

I finished today, a few days later than agreed, but the quilting took me forever! Luckily, Maider forgave me.

The sleeves on this vest, along with the belt and high collar give me a distinct Jedi vibe, which, I’ve got to admit, is really cool!!!!

The project

So this is the Irma Bodywarmer from Fibremood Issue 16. The pattern has 2 sleeve options and you can choose to close it with a belt or with buttons.
It has a size range of XS to XXXL (bust 76-146cm).

The sizing chart put me at the upper end of the size M, which is what I made. If you like a more oversized look, just go up a size…

The pattern is designed for quilted fabrics, so you can choose pre-quilted or quilt your own, like I did.

For the quilting I used the ‘Bartack Quilting’ method as seen on Rachael’s instagram account. I absolutely adore the effect of the quilting but it takes infinitely much longer than regular quilting. Not only do you have to sew each bartack, you then have to cut all the threads on the front and the back. But it is absolutely worth the effort!

For my quilting sandwich I used: navy blue linen from Earthytextiles, the texture, feel and colour are perfect, and my batting is 100% wool from Hobbs that I had lying around.

Construction

The hardest part about making the Irma, is constructing the quilt sandwich.

My method is documented in my highlighted stories on Instagram:

Roughly marking the pattern pieces on the fabric with chalk
Pinning the batting to the outer fabric
Roughly cut out the piece with quite a bit of margin
Lay and pin (with lots of pins!) the top layer and batting on the backing of the sandwich
Roughly cut out the pieces
Bartack quilt all the pieces, cut all the threads
Precisely cut out all the pattern pieces

Once you pass this hurdle, it’s pretty easy going…

I finished the pockets and the rough edges of the jacket and sleeves with bias tape from my linen fabric for a seamless look. All interior rough edges are finished with my overlocker.

Conclusion

I can already tell that this is something that will get worn a lot! I love everything about it, big pockets, high collar, super cool Jedi sleeves and it keeps me toasty and warm!