Oh, ummm, don't mind the completely not-matching tribal knit peeking out. It's this super awesome romper. Not gonna completely change a romper just for photos, sorry!!
I'm in love with this hoodie. I've been a fan of Raspberry Creek fabrics for a while, but this is my first time working with their heathered French terry. Initially I shied away from it since it's polyester (although she has non-heathered FT in cotton/spandex) but I'm glad I took the plunge with it. It's so fun!
I got super confused about sizing (my mommy brain fault) and printed the medium Lane. My high bust measurement (as the pattern recommends) puts me at a small but I think I accidentally went off my full bust. Better to error bigger as this pattern only has a 1/4" seam allowance. For a hoodie, I think I made the right choice. The only change I made to sizing was to sew the underarm/side seams with a 1/2" seam allowance instead of 1/4". I can comfortably wear this over another shirt, but I don't think it looks TOO baggy. The loops on the terry are pretty big, so they're kind of rough. I don't know how comfortable I'd be in a shirt made from this fabric but it works for a hoodie!
The hood is very big. If you pay attention to how wide the neckline seam is, you can tell. A medium t-shirt would definitely fall off my shoulders. Not a huge deal but worth noting.
I opted for the curved baseball hem instead of a band. I love it, I think it makes this into a hoodie/shirt hybrid and it's unexpected. Also necessary, for me, because it will be easier to lift up for nursing.
I also went with the thumb hole cuffs. Super fun! And great for carrying hot coffee. Just make sure to check the length of the thumbholes in relation to your outstretched arms before you serge the cuffs to the sleeves. I didn't have any issues but if you have short arms, you might.
The big change I made was to line the hood with floral jersey. My husband actually picked out the lining, although this is my favorite fabric and it's been made into a ton of things. A lining is not included in the pattern instructions, so check out my tutorial I posted earlier this week. I made a big mistake with the hood and put my eyelets through the outer fabric AND lining. Went to thread the drawstring and...whomp whomp. Eyelets need to go through only the outer fabric. I shed some tears and then ripped the serging out connecting the hood to the bodice (because oh yes, I had already done that step too) just enough to wiggle a new eyelet in between the layers and install it. I used 1/4" Dritz eyelets that I bought at Jo-Ann's. Then I kind of patched over the holes in the lining. Not great. Might need fixing later. Might not. If I had completely disconnected the hood I could have fused some interfacing over the holes, but...lazy. And see aforementioned large hood, I didn't want to rip out my serging and end up with an even bigger/stretched out neckline.
The drawstring is twill tape that I purchased from a flash deal website ages ago. It was too wide so I folded it in half and sewed it together.
I used the same twill tape to cover the neckline seam. To add this touch, I sewed the top edge of the twill tape to the seam allowance. Then I folded it down over the SA and topstitched from the outside of the hood, feeling the tape with my fingers to make sure my stitching was catching it.
That's all folks (my oldest has watched Space Jam twice this week so I guess this phrase is stuck in my head)! I know I'll be wearing the heck out of this hoodie and it's such an improvement over my typical ratty one that I bought at Goodwill (did I just admit that out loud?).
Update July 2017: This post contains affiliate links. Text of the original post remains the same!
Utterly gorgeous hoodie, before seeing this I hadn't really considered sewing one but this has changed my mind. It looks great on, has super details and the fabrics are lush.
ReplyDelete