Made by a Fabricista: The Biker Hoodie
Happy June, and wow: this year is sure flying. Today Cheeks is back to share his latest: a sweet Ottobre Kids biker hoodie!
This was my first ever make from Ottobre Magazine. After years of seeing the awesome kids and womens clothing they design, I finally took the plunge and subscribed for 2017.
This hoodie is #19 from the Spring 1/2017 Kids issue.
This is one of my favorite things about Fabric Mart (besides the killer pricing): finding these diamonds in the rough.
Anyway, back to this pattern, and my very first Ottobre pattern experience. I wish I had started with something simpler to get used to the pattern direction verbiage; I'd compare them to the sparseness of BurdaStyle's directions, but translated from a different language. Basically, they are of similar difficulty to hash out but in a different way. Also like Burda, the patterns include hem allowances, but all seam allowances need to be added to the pattern pieces.
The sparse wording (about 1/3 of a magazine page for the whole construction) made it difficult to suss out which pieces should be cut in which fabrics, and I only figured out a dotted line meant a pattern piece was meant to be cut on the fold after cutting out a comically tiny inner neck binding (the rest of the pattern pieces cut on the fold were obvious and had a note saying say so).
Some changes I made to the pattern: I lengthened the body 1" so I could use a zipper I had on hand, and I omitted the welt pockets. The latter was not necessarily intended, but I began the welt sewing process three times and ripped it out three times and decided he could go without pockets on this one.
The bits of topstitching also give this one a little oomph. Some of it gets a little lost in this double faced sweater knit, but there's still a bit of definition.
As for the elephant in the room, the size, I didn't realize how ginormous this was until I put it on him. I made the smallest size offered for this style, 98, which is for a 22" chest. His chest is 21", which would be much better suited for a size 92, but I still never expected him to drown in it this much.
Though it makes for some funky looking photos now (those sleeves cuffs are folded up twice in most of these photos!), it's for the best since we are just heading into summer, which means this will most definitely still fit him come autumn.
Plus, I think the hood makes him look a bit like a Jedi, which is pretty cool in my book. Hehe.
Thanks for reading! Until our next sewing adventure...
Jess
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Posted on June 03 2017
I thinking he looks rather charming modeling his new jacket. FIESTA 😀
I swear he makes the best faces! :-D
It turned out really well! And I think the light felting is actually perfect for a little one!
Your little fella is quite a model! So cute! I love the hoodie style, the fabric and the color. What a convenience to be able to hand wash this fabric and it still keeps it shape. Very nice!
Thank you, Monica! :D
Teehee. :) Thanks.
Good point on the felting: he'll be a bit rough on it regardless!
Thank you much! :)