Helsinki Fleece Jacket
Sew a warm, practical kids’ fleece-style jacket with a front zipper, side pockets, and a zippered chest pocket. It’s a cozy cold-weather layer with sporty finishes and useful customization options.
Project preview
This video is for members
Join Lulu Ferris to watch the complete class and sew along at your own pace.
A warm jacket for kids
The Helsinki Fleece Jacket is a children’s jacket designed for chilly days: cozy, practical, and full of real outerwear details. It has a front zipper, double collar, FOE or elastic binding finishes, side pockets, and a zippered chest pocket.
The finished jacket has a sporty, everyday look that works as a warm layer depending on the fabric you choose. The class focuses on getting a clean, sturdy result while sewing bulkier fabrics and flexible edge finishes.
What you’ll learn
- Assemble a kids’ jacket with fronts, back, sleeves, and collar, using notches for accurate matching.
- Sew a zippered chest pocket with a welt-style opening and a neat inner facing.
- Add integrated side pockets while considering warmth, bulk, and fabric choice.
- Apply FOE or elastic binding to cuffs, hem, and front edges for a finished look.
- Install zippers in thicker fabric, including the option of continuous zipper tape with stops.
- Handle bulky seams with overlocking, zigzag or overlock-style stitches, depending on your machine.
Fabrics and materials
The Helsinki can be sewn in sherpa, fleece, or baby corduroy. Softshell is also discussed, with the note that a very stiff or thick fabric may call for a different approach to cuffs and hem finishes.
The project uses a front zipper, a pocket zipper, and FOE or elastic binding for the edges. You can combine a thinner fabric in selected pocket pieces to reduce bulk and make sewing easier while keeping the jacket cozy.
Ways to customize it
The jacket gives you several design choices: keep the chest pocket, leave it off, move it to the other side, make it larger, or add a second one. The side pockets can be sewn in the same warm fabric or combined with a thinner fabric to reduce thickness.
For the finishes, you can use FOE or elastic binding, with other adaptations discussed in class, such as turned cuffs or hem if you adjust the needed length. The collar can stay double for extra warmth or be simplified with FOE along the top edge.
Included sizes
The pattern includes children’s and teen sizes 2/3, 4/5, 6/7, 8/9, 10/11, 12/13, and 14/15, with a size chart for approximate heights from 95 to 170 cm.
The chart includes chest, waist, and hip measurements to help you choose a size. As a guide, it covers approximately 50–86 cm chest, 49–72 cm waist, and 54–88 cm hip. The sample shown in class is size 10/11.
What’s included in the class
With membership, you’ll get the complete video class so you can watch the key techniques up close: the zippered pocket, FOE binding, sleeve and collar assembly, front zipper placement, and handling thicker fabrics.
The downloadable pattern is included in home-printing and large-format options, with an assembly layout, size chart, fabric guidance, and useful information for zipper and elastic-binding lengths by size.
Motril Kids’ Pants
Dakar Sweatshirt or T-Shirt