Fishie Coat (times two)

I couldn't find a fleece hoodie for Maggie when I was buying her winter clothes, so I decided to make one. I accidentally bought more than twice the fleece I needed, so when the first hoodie I made didn't turn out quite as nice as I'd have liked, I decided to try again. The second time I lined the whole thing (not just the hood) with flannel, as well as adjusted the pattern a little bit.

The girls both love their fishie coats and wanted to wear them all afternoon.

I made the pattern myself by tracing one of Maggie's sweatshirts. Since fleece isn't stretchy, I had to make some adjustments, mainly make the sleeves and the hood bigger. You can tell that the hood is farther back from the collar on Colette's. And Maggie's sleeves are too big and have to be rolled up.

Here's what I did:

Cut out a back, two front halves (half the back, plus an inch on the straight side, for the closure), two sleeves, two hoods, and two pockets. Remember to leave seam allowance, on every side if you are doing a lining.
Join front and back at shoulder seams.
Pin sleeves and sew to shoulder.
Sew seam from wrist to waist.
Sew 2 hood pieces together
Attach hood to neckline.
*repeat above with lining* leaving a gap in one side seam for turning.
Topstitch pockets into place.
Sew in zipper.
Pin lining and outer fabric right sides together
Sew around bottom, up one side of zipper, around hood, down other side of zipper, and around the bottom. Turn through gap.
Sew the sleeve and lining together, here are the best instructions I found. You can't just sew them together when you are sewing the rest of the jacket right sides together, unless you want to make a straight jacket. Believe me, I tried it. Luckily, I just basted to see what would happen.
Close gap in lining.
Last, topstitch along both sides of the zipper.

Some additional helps:
Craftster hoodie tutorial - good basic instructions, especially for creating a pattern, but I sew my sleeves on differently.
Fleece Hoodie from a baby blanket - hmm, I did the sleeves differently from this one too.

(This cute face is what comes of saying "Auntie Rachel!" instead of "Cheese!"