Handmade White Hoodie

It's often hard to predict which makes are going to be winners but I was certain when making this that it was going to be a good one, and so far I've been proven right. In the weeks since making this hoodie it's already become one of my currently most worn me-mades and I absolutely love wearing it! 

I've wanted to make a simple white hoodie for quite a long time but have struggled to find the perfect fabric. I wanted the fabric to be thick enough to be worn as a jumper with a top underneath but thin enough to be able to keep some drape and add in lots of interesting details. This white jersey fabric from Craft Cotton Co was absolutely perfect: the right weight so it could be easily manipulated but not too thin. Most importantly when it comes to white jersey - its opaque! I've been disappointed by so many see-through white jerseys so it was brilliant to find that this one isn't.

I first got the idea of this hoodie from a ready to wear one that I own. It's a fairly basic hoodie but the design made it something else and I wanted to try and replicate it's interesting panneling. I find that when drafting patterns it also helps hugely to have similar style garment on hand to get the proportions right. This is especially the case when it comes to anything cropped and boxy as it's important to get the proportions of the length and width right.

A white hoodie may seem like the plainest and potentially most boring thing possible to make, but that's where the details come in! My favourite parts of clothing are always in the details such as topstitching and interesting pattern design. For this hoodie the detail is all in the design. With the addition of something as simple as an extra pannel in the side seam the top becomes an entirely different garment. Combined with topstiching along its seams, the hoodie was elevated into something much more interesting. I like the subtleness of the white topstiching but it could look amazing in a contrast colour too, something I'm very tempted to try. 

An interesting part of this hoodie is how big the hood is. Hoods are an oddly make or break detail as the proportions can often look off. I love the massive hood here! It's hard to tell the size from the photos, but I can't see anything when it's up. The only problem with this was that it used a lot of fabric! The width of the bodice and sleeves to give the hoodie its slouchy feel meant that it used up quite a bit of material. The large fully lined hood took up the same amount of fabric as the back and front bodice combined so it's probably not one to be making from scraps. Definitely worth it in my mind though.

The only issue I had sewing this was when it came to the button holes. Usually, button holes can be sewn fairly easily on jersey if interfacing is added to the back. For whatever reason my machine just wasn't cooperating with this fabric so in the end I made the decision to hand sew the button holes. I'm so glad I did that as they've turned out so much neater than they would have been had I sewn them with the machine and because they're not being used for buttons it doesn't matter if they aren't as durable.

Overall, I couldn't be happier with this hoodie! I've worn it so much already. The interesting design makes it a bit less casual but doesn't take anything away from how comfy it is. The only thing that I'd like to add are drawstrings, I'm thinking about buying a long shoelace and using that.