Pattern: Harper Hoodie
Fabrics: Purple: Cotton Fleece from Sew Unique Fabrics Accent: ‘Artistic Ink’ from Sew Unique Farbics
Pink: Jogging Sweater Knit from Wattle Hill Fabrics
Measurements: Bust: 42.5″; Waist: 39.5″; Hips: 47.5″
Size made: Straight 22. I like my hoodies big and oversized
Adjustments: None
Pros: LOVE the colour blocking on this. It is super comfy to wear and I love the look of the welt pockets.
Cons: I had to unpick the welt part of the pockets 3 times before I got it looking good enough that I was happy with it. I also felt the pocket bags on the inside look a little clunky.
Links:
The Wrap Up:
This brand new hoodie pattern from Sonia Estep is a big winner in my eyes. From the minute I saw it, I knew I would love it and am so glad I got a chance to sew it up. It may be Summer over here in the Southern Hemisphere, but its never too early to start my winter wardrobe. Especially living in Melbourne. We can be in the middle of a heat wave and then next thing you’re freezing and fighting off hail storms! Never a dull moment in Melbourne haha.
I had a few choices for fabrics on this one. As I often do when I’m planning a new project, I got them all out and laid them together to see what combo jumped out at me. I straight away was drawn to the purple and pink combo, and the artistic ink was definitely a front runner.
As the artistic ink is a Cotton Lycra, quite thin, and the purple and pinks are cotton fleece, thick and fluffy, I decided to cut all my artistic ink pieces in black Cotton Fleece as well to ‘back’ each piece. I then treated them as one piece when sewing it together. It is a little bit of a extra tricky step, but well worth it for me.
Once I had decided on the fabrics, the next was choosing a size. In the past I have sewn to ‘my measurements’ and while the garments fit, and looks good, its taken me 3 or 4 hoodies to realise that I actually REALLY like oversized hoodies. Like, I buy RTW mens sized ones cause I want them big and snuggly. So this time I made a size 2-3 up from what my measurements said and its PERFECT.
The process of putting the garment together was quite straight forward, just a few extra steps in the piecing it together. I had to be very careful I made sure all the pieces went together as they should so that the colour blocks would match up. I did put my bottom pieces on upside down to begin with so that was a fun half hour unpicking that. doh!
The next part I had some issues with was the welt pockets. I had not done a welt pocket quite how it was constructed in this pattern and had some problems getting my outer piece even and nestled nicely from the front. One of the sides I unpicked 3 times, and the other side once. I am glad I did, as it was worth it to have it looking good, but it did cause for some swear words haha. I also thought the inside pocket bags were a little odd in terms of how they sit, and if I make another would look to how I could modify to perhaps make a circle through pocket, but for now I might hand stitch them to the inside so they don’t dip below the waistband when weighted down by objects in them.
I had some questions over wether I crossed my hood too much when I first did it, but it works. The designer also commented that the hood is intentionally a more ‘dramatic’ hood crossover than most. The cowl look around the neck when its not up is particularly appealing to me, I think it looks great!
The Harper Hoodies is definitely a staple in my wardrobe now and am looking forward to being able to crack her out A LOT over winter. The pattern is on sale for 50% till Thursday, click on the link below (afflink) to grab your copy.
Gallery:
