Jurassic Hoodies

It's been a long time since I've done much sewing for the little boys that didn't involve a Halloween costume or Christmas Eve pjs, but I've had this dino fabric sitting in my stash for almost a year now.  It was a pre-order from Saskatchewan based Blended Threads last spring and since the boys were obsessed with anything Jurassic Park/World this seemed like the perfect fabric for them.  I meant to make them hoodies last year and then got distracted by a million other projects and left it sitting in my fabric bin thinking I'd get to it "next".

Well, I finally got to it just before the Easter weekend. Now I should do something with the batman, hockey, wildlife, etc lengths of fabric I've bought for them over the last two years too... When I mentally take stock of all that fabric I've bought with all the best intentions I realize how really bad I am at this "stick-to-it-ive-ness" thing when it comes to plans.  LOL

Baby steps.  We'll go with that.  One fabric at a time... So starting with the dino fabric, which is the same great quality as all the fabrics I've bought from Blended Threads, I decided to make the New Horizons*  Summit Peak Hoodie.  The Blended Threads Facebook group had recently done a Summit  sew along and I was feeling pretty inspired by all the great hoodies I had seen during it.

Having not made any kids patterns from New Horizons before, I thought it would make sense to make the 12 and try it on both boys first and see how the sizing looked before making the second one, figuring it would be easy to go up a size or down a size depending on which kiddo that the first one didn't fit. In the end it fit both of them pretty well, so the first one became Baby Boy's and while it's a touch long on him, it actually fits really well.  I also made a size 12 for Little Man, but added length to it, because although he's slender, he's long and lanky, gets taller by the minute and if it fits him around, it's almost guaranteed to be short on him in no time at all.

I had two metres of the dino fabric and then a yard of the charcoal grey from The Fabric Snob and a yard of the khaki green from Midnight Mountain Fabrics.  Both are a cotton/lycra blend and both are the same nice quality as the cotton/lycra dinos.

I had initially planned on doing both the hoodies with the green, but then decided to go with the grey partly because I was worried I'd be cutting it close with the amount of fabric (I think I figured I'd be short by about half a waistband if I remember correctly) and having a slight difference would save a whole lot of "HE'S WEARING MY HOODIE" type arguments.

I love how the hoodies turned out.  More importantly the boys love them!  Being cotton/lycra they've been perfect for the on again off again spring weather we've been having too! They were really quick to sew (always a bonus!).  The instructions were really straight forward - I did do a bit of head scratching at first over the pocket, but then watched a quick YouTube video on how to sew it, and after I watched it of course the instructions seemed perfectly clear and I have no idea why I was confused in the first place.  I think it was a case of over thinking things too much.  I put eyelets in the hoods for a draw string, but haven't managed to actually thread one through yet.  I should really do that one of these days.  (I was just planning to cut a strip of the solid CL and yet somehow as simple a task as that is, I haven't quite got around to it... )

I do have all three of the Summit Peak Hoodie patterns so want to make the adult sized versions too.   I want a pullover hoodie for myself and have quite a nice stash of floral french terry I could use (my french terry Halifax hoodie, that I'm pretty sure I never blogged about, is one of my most worn tops - in fact I'm wearing it today as I type this - so I'd love another design in french terry!).  For my husband, I think I'll do the zip up version and need to order a suitable cotton lycra or french terry for his.

First things first though. I'm in the middle of a pants sewing endeavour right now and must focus on that before I dive headlong into any new projects.  Someone get the mental blinders on me quickly so I don't get distracted by all the other ideas floating around my head...

The Jessi Hoodie

Ages ago - I feel like maybe as far back as late fall - one of the sewing groups I belong to on Facebook was hosting a sew along for the Jessi Hoodie by CoEmi.  I snapped up the pattern, bought the paper needed to print it off (It's a European pattern so required A4 - I made do with 8 1/2 x 14 " to accommodate the extra length needed and it worked just fine), printed and then assembled it all in short order.  Then proceeded to have zero time to sit down and trace the pattern out, add seam allowances and cut fabric out, let alone sew it up.  So it sat in a big pile on top of my desk until the beginning of March.

I've seen this pattern everywhere on Facebook for months now. It seems like ALL the custom fabric group sewists are especially crazy about it.  I really liked the look of it and thought it would be perfect for work, so I finally dragged my roll of tracing paper out and set to the business of tracing and adding seam allowances to all the bits and bobs.  It really wasn't an onerous task and now that it's done and I'm so happy with how it turned out I wonder why on earth I waited so long, other than time was, as always, at a premium.

I decided that my peached herringbone jersey from Blended Thread Fabrics would be great for the main fabric and instead of buying a co-ordinate for the rest, I decided to make do by utilizing as much of the charcoal Fabric Snob jersey from my ill fated New Horizons Vermont cardi that I'd made earlier in the year. (You never saw that one.  It was a complete fit disaster on me.  I don't know why I strayed from my beloved Blackwood Cardi in the first place).  So the cowl contrast was cut from the back of the cardi, the front side panels from the cardi fronts.  I cut the cuffs off and used them as is, and did the same with the cardi bottom band, so cuffs and band weren't exactly as the pattern measures, but did the trick nicely. I was pleased that the only "waste" left over from the cardi was the front bands which were so bizarrely stretched out of shape they were garbage anyway, and the sleeves, which I'll save for contrast on something for the little boys.

I have really loved wearing this top and reach for it so very often on cooler days, so I thought I'd make another version.  This time I used a panel from the custom print company, Midnight Mountain Fabrics which is located in the city. Being from the flat as flat can be prairies, I've always been drawn to the mountains. Some might even call it obsessed with them. I love their majesty, ruggedness and beauty, so I couldn't resist the panel when the pre-order went up a few months ago.  I combined it again with a jersey solid from The Fabric Snob.  This time since I was starting out from scratch I used the pattern pieces for the cuffs and measurements for the bottom band.  I like the bottom band's width, but the cuffs feel just a bit too long and too snug for my liking.  I'd probably like just an extra quarter of an inch width and a 1/4 of an inch shorter for my personal preference.  I'm not sure if it's the difference in fabric, or if I totally used the wrong seam allowance (How on earth do you do that when you're the one that added the seam allowance in the first place...The mind.  It boggles sometimes! LOL), but this one turned out really relaxed and verging on baggy.  I've taken it in some on the side seams and will wait until it's gone through the wash a couple of times in case it shrinks then I may leave it in it's still "relaxed fit" state, or may take it in more - I just feel that the minute I take it in, is the minute that it's going to shrink like a beast in the wash and I'm going to be living in a world of so much regret.  So for the time being it stays as is.

I used the "BIG Jessi" pattern. (Wow!  Not sure how I feel about the naming of the pattern - thanks for pointing out the obvious there CoEmi, because we larger ladies might not realize we're bigger than your regular pattern size range already.  But whatever.  Slight annoyance aside, I wasn't going to let myself be put off by that.  Maybe it's a translation thing.  I don't know.) As for the nitty gritty pattern details, the fit is pretty good (if you follow your seam allowance choice you made...), and it's a nice flattering design.  It has one heck of a huge cowl - if you feel the need to hide your head in a shell like a turtle, this is your pattern. LOL!

Or if you'd rather, there's a nice big hood option as well. You also have options to put in pockets (I didn't bother) and if you're a nursing mama, the pattern tells you how to add hidden zippers along the princess seam lines to make it breastfeeding friendly. Certainly not a feature I'd need anymore, but might be quite handy for others.  I like that you can mix and match fabrics and that it's a perfect way to use those fun custom print panels that are all over the internet that I seem to be acquiring but haven't previously had a hot clue what to do with.

I'm am pretty much delighted with both my versions and am currently pondering if I should make a third version, but this time with french terry and just a regular jewel neckline instead of hood or cowl.  Although, the weather has been glorious, so maybe I should just turn my thoughts to spring sewing instead... we shall see!