Black Stella Hoodie

After the success of my last Stella hoodie (which has received a lot of wear) I decided it was about time that I make another. What I love about my previous Stella is how the cropped length means that it can be worn with a variety of different things and I wanted to create something of the same style but in a different colour way.

The fabric that I used for this top wasn't actually intended for a hoodie. I purchased this at the Knitting and Stitching show in October with the hopes of making a short-sleeved Linden or some sort of equivalent in the summer. Because of this, I only bought 1m. I was then overcome by the sudden urge to make the fabric into a hoodie, something which was perfect to wear at this time of year. As you can imagine it wasn't easy getting a hoodie out of 1m of fabric but I just about managed with some very skilful pattern placement! I'm really glad I made a hoodie in the end too as it's already received a lot of wear and I think that the darker fabric wouldn't have been as well suited as a top aimed to be worn in the summer.

The main reason I was able to make the hoodie with so little fabric was because I used a contrast fabric for the hood lining. To be honest I probably would have done this anyway as I prefer the contrast and I think that the light grey does a good job of breaking up the black too. I like that while it's black the dots make the jumper a bit more interesting and I somehow discovered that I had the perfect shade of grey jersey to match the spots as a leftover fabric from a different project, so I was very pleased about that! The fabric is such lovely quality, it's a medium weight jersey meaning that it's thick enough to hold it's shape and be a bit warmer while also being light enough to hang nicely. I would like to try making the Stella in a really drapey fabric at some point though to see what it looks like.

My favourite detail of this jumper is the label which I love! My sister gave me this gorgeous label around the time I was making this jumper and they just seemed to match so perfectly. It makes me smile every time I put this top on. Having always used the same labels in all of my garments I've discovered that I love having a variety of different labels, be it a woven label like this one of a snippet of beautiful fabric like the hook in my Kelly anorak.

The main thing that I disliked about my first Stella was the lack of cuffs. Although I purposely omitted them in the first place it was something that bothered me every time I wore it. I've since added on cuffs to that hoodie (it took me a long time but I finally did it!) and I knew that I wanted to include cuffs on this hoodie. I'm not sure what it is about them but they seem to be the right way to finish off the sleeves and without them something wasn't quite right.

I'm so pleased I made this hoodie when I did as it's received a lot of wear, especially with my Anima pants. It's such a simple make but is the kind of closet staple that receives a lot of wear.