Hoodie for the Boy

When preparing for Kids Clothes Week, I headed to my local fabric chain with a long list in hand. My kids have next to no winter clothes that fit, and a hoodie for Jacob was on the list. I was so uninspired by the boy fleece options – the boyish colours are just so drab. In fact, the range of fleece was all pretty boring. I was about to give up, when hidden away I found this navy print:

This is seriously cool fabric – almost wasted on a 4yo boy. Maybe I should go back and buy some more…

The pattern is the “Be Careful Out There Hoodie” from Ottobre Design 4/2012. The pattern is for jersey , but the fleece had a lot of stretch so it worked out fine. The pattern is more for a long-sleeve T-shirt hoodie than a jumper/sweater, so it’s narrower than store-bought fleece ones, but I think that suits my slender boy. He doesn’t look lost in it or get in the way of playing.

The ribbing is dark navy that I found in a thrift store a while ago. I debated using a more contrasting colour, but I’m happy I stuck with navy – it lets the fabric pattern shine. I also didn’t do the contrast top-stitching in the pattern for the same reason. I didn’t line the hood either since the fleece back was so snuggly!

I didn’t get as much sewing time on Day 3 of Kids Clothes Week as I would have liked, so only managed to do the shell of the hoodie, up to putting the zip in. I was a little nervous, having never done a zip placket like this, but it went in surprisingly easy (especially since the Ottobre instructions are so brief!). There is a tiny pucker at the bottom, but I’m sure I’m the only one that will notice that!

So I finished it off on Day 4. I feel like I’m behind on the mammoth list I set myself, so I needed another quick project to perk me up – a quick pair of pyjama pants for Jacob. I’ll finish the top before I show you that one.

So 5 items down in 4 days, 6 more to go – I’ll need a lot of time at the sewing machine to get them all done. Let’s see how we go!