Cropped Stella Hoodie (a.k.a the perfect top)

Sometimes, you sew a garment and the immediately wonder what you used to wear before it. My Tilly and the Buttons Stella Hoodie is exactly that kind of garment. Since making it, it's all I've wanted to wear! The Stella Hoodie is one of the patterns in Stretch!, a really easy to sew hoodie with drop shoulder sleeves and a lined hood. There are also options to make it either sleeveless or as a hoodie-dress, both things that I absolutley want to try! A hoodie is the kind of thing that I wear a lot during the colder months and although we're coming into spring it's definitely still something that will wear a lot. 

Since receiving the book I've made quite a few of the projects, and although the Stella Hoodie caught my eye from the start there were a few changes that I wanted to make to my first version. As you can see, I decided to crop the hoodie to be able to wear it with high waisted trousers and skirts; I also think it makes it look a bit more sophisticated. I'm so pleased about this, I think it works perfectly, and a cropped jumper is definitely something that I'd been lacking which is one of the reasons that this top has had so much wear! I did leave the cuffs off the end of the sleeves, mainly because I didn't buy any ribbing and the cable knit would have been too thick to fold over double. I did consider ordering some ribbing, but I actually really like the sleeves like this and if needs be I can always buy some in the future.

The first time I sewed a hood was in my Kelly Anorak, and I was pleasantly suprised at how easy it was. Obviously, this pattern is at the other end of the spectrum in terms of difficulty to the Kelly, so this hood was even simpler to sew! One of my favourite aspects of the pattern is that the hood is lined, the perfect excuse for a lovely bit of contrast fabric. Funnily enough I've actually used the same fabric to line this hood that I used to line the hood of my Kelly Anorak, just in a different colour way. I chose to buy 1/2 metre of the stripy fabric at the last minute in the fabric shop and I am so glad I did! I probably would have otherewise used my leftovers of the blue stripe to line the hood, but I absolutely love the pink and grey together. It's discreet enough to allow the jumper to be worn easily but still adds a really nice extra touch. 

The fabric is a gorgeous grey cable knit that I bought when I visited Higgs & Higgs, the perfect kind of fabric to sew a jumper in. I really love fabrics that have texture to them, so this one is definitely my cup of tea. 

You may have noticed the lack of cords around the neck of my hoodie - let's just say that they are a work in progress! I haven't found any cord that I like so far, I'm searching for a pale pink tape rather than some round cord which I wasn't ever expecting to be easy to find, so for now I'm just wearing it without. To be honest, it doesn't bother me at all. I have sewn the button holes for the tape to come through and if I see some I'll buy some, but that might be next week or in a few years! I was a little worried about sewing button holes on knit fabric but it wasn't actually a problem at all. It defnititly helped to interface the fabric though, and I wouldn't like to try sewing button holes onto a stretchier jersey...