Half a hoodie
Although finished as part of my Christmas procrastination, this little sweater for Syo has the best origins: I cut it out immediately after I finished Tyo’s robe, to use up the irregular quarter-metre of fabric I had left.
Simplicity 3714
The pattern is Simplicity 3714, a Hannah Montana pattern. Unlike the last few kids’ patterns I’ve been annoyed with, this one seems fairly full-featured. The instructions are decent as well. What was fun for me, though, was adding some nifty details.
A couple of months ago, my MIL bought Tyo a bunnyhug*. It’s cream, gorgeous, and has some nifty features including (but not limited to) twill-taped seams, a lined hood, and eyelets for the ties. Unfortunately I don’t have photos of it (it’s really nice), but anyway, it definitely inspired me to try some of the details.
Syo’s Sweater
Unfortunately I didn’t have any cream twill-tape kicking around. So I took the white stuff I had on hand and dropped it in a pot of tea. It came out with this lovely tan colour… a bit different than I was going for but I thought it still looked nice (and it will probably fade a bit after a few washings.)
Hood closeup (with eyelet for drawstring)
Basically I stitched the main seams wrong-side together (so the seam-allowances showed on the outside, trimmed and pressed, and then topstitched the twill tape down overtop, so everything is neat both inside and out. The hood is lined with a plain jersey knit.
Fun view
I remembered (!) to interface the area where the hood eyelets were going to go with a knit fusible interfacing, hoping to avoid the tragedy of the eyelets popping out. This is a fairly sturdy sweatshirt knit, and I made the eyelet-holes as teeny as possible. They feel sturdy and stable at the moment, but we’ll see how they hold up.
Front details
The pattern suggested adding hot-fuse rhinestones to the front. I opted for studs. I may add more if I get ambitious.
Back view
I did the same kind of finish around the zipper, so the edges of the zipper tape and the fabric are completely enclosed behind the twill-tape. I’m not a super fan of this zipper, but the selection for 8″ separating zippers was pretty frigging limited.
Zipper finishing
I forgot to add the elastic at the waistband when I finished it, but fortunately was able to unpick the twill tape, cut a slit in the casing beneath it, insert the elastic, and then stitch the elastic in place and re-stitch the twill-tape, covering my booboo entirely. Yay.
Walk like a Syo
Syo is not super-duper thrilled with it, but I’m actuslly hoping it will be practical, as she is usually overheating and taking off her full-sized sweaters. She wore it pretty happily at the local history museum this afternoon. Maybe it will grow on her. I certainly think it’s pretty cool. But of course it’s not my opinion that matters. 😉
*hoodie.
Tanit-Isis Sews 
Cute! I was expecting a full length hoodie (sorry, ‘bunny-hug’) when I was reading the text-only version in my email, and my first thought was “omg did it shrink?!” before I caught on! LOL. I hope it grows on her too, because it’s super cute! I really like the twill tape method you used on the seams, and yay tea dying!
Also, HAPPY HOLIDAYS! I hope you guys had a good Christmas, and have fun with New Years!
Happy holidays & NY to you, too!
Oh, and yeah, the tape will probably fade a bit with washing. Or at least, that’s what happened with my tea-dyed lace. 🙂 I like the light brown on the cream, though!
Cute cropped hoodie! I have never heard of the term bunnyhug before, but it is way more adorable than hoodie; I think I will use it instead from now on! I’m curious to see how that tea-dying holds up after a few washings. I would really appreciate a report back!
Bunnyhug is one of those endangered words 😉 native to my home province and completely unknown outside it. I like it, though, so I try to spread it as I can…
Here’s hoping the sweater gets enough wear that I can report how it holds up 😉
Genius to put the ribbon in tea! You have the soul of a crafter. You make do with what you have and it always works out! I did top stitch the outer seam of the Clovers but it was horrible work – so I ripped it out. Good news is, thanks to your comment, I had the nerve to try it and I could indeed get all the way from the waist to the ankle. I just need to find a way to do long strings of top stitching with better skill.
Bummer that you had to rip the topstitching—hopefully it goes better next time. I must admit I’ve only successfully tried it on capris for Tyo… loose and short in the leg! 🙂
I totally take notes for later on when Lila’s a little bigger… It’s so cute, and useful, I hope she takes to it. 🙂
Yeah, bigger kids definitely require some different styling… I hope she gets used to it, too, but it may not happen. Making things without their input is always a bit iffy…
Very cute and I love the studs. I bet Syo will decide it is cool.
That hoodie is adorable (as is the term “bunnyhug” which I’ve heard before)! For some reason, I thought the top was attached to the red shirt underneath and had a few confusing moments at first….
I have to wear something for a while to decide if I like it. Hopefully Syo will come down on the “liking it” side! The tea-dyeing was a great idea, but yes, they do fade progressively so eventually the hoodie and ties might match — if it doesn’t get grubby first. I can’t put my kids in light colors because they show every mark and spot, and there’s a limit to how much presoaking I can do.
Yeah, I never really know right off the bat, either. The problem with Syo is she’s fickle and picky. /sigh.
Too cute! I think she’ll come around, because all her friends are going to want one. 😉
Here’s hoping! I am planning to require her to wear it to school at least once…
What a lovely top for your daughter. Mine also is losing interest in the things I sew for her, so I’m learning to sew less for her and more for me. 🙂 Best wishes from Kris of SoundStitches blog.
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hehe Sooo cute, and I was expecting something totally different too. 😀 see, I am a little person, a dwarf, so I did a google image search of dwarf hoodie, hoping to see if there were any little person in a hoodie that would pop up, kinda ALA Trayvon Martin style. None popped up but yours, and what a clever idea. Now, I can’t imagine tooooo many adult little women wearing this as they would be, ya know, developed, but maybe some little people (female) kids. 🙂 i think you could reach the boy, even adult male, market if done like in darker colors, such as navy blue or black. Also with the girly ones, adding side pockets, even if they’re small and not that useable, would still make it cute and actually maybe more girlie too. Like those girl tee shirts with the tiny pocket, which I don’t know too many girls that actually use them but they’re so cute. I really think you have a marketable idea and you should run with it. Sincerely, grady
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