Quilted Hoodie
Many times on my social media feeds I see a few young men who I think are designers modeling the unique pieces they are sewing from thrifted materials. It has been giving me ideas!
Before Joanns closed I visited and found some different fabrics (see Austrian and Weiner Dog pants for example). I picked up a length of double sided quilted fabric with flamingos. Of course I had no plans for it, just liked the material.
Originally I was envisioning a coat or zipper vest. Well one side had lines that I would have to match - not my favorite sewing activity. I decided to try a quilted hoodie.
This is slightly impractical for quite a few reasons. Reason number 1. I live in the desert - it does not get very cold here even in the winter. Reason 2. the hoodie patterns I own all call for a knit. This fabric is all woven not really any stretch at all. Well sometimes I just sew to be fun and don’t worry about practical items. I consider it a training piece.
I had just enough to cut the hoodie out. I did make some modifications. I see you rolling your eyes and muttering what else is new. To accommodate the fact the fabric has no stretch I cut it larger than normal to make it fit (hopefully). I used my favorite sweatshirt/hoodie pattern from Sinclair Patterns, the Nova. In looking at the pattern I saw one of the testers must have also used a quilted piece for their sample so maybe I was not being totally insane.
I basted on the sleeves on the left arm I tried matching the lines. The right I reversed the fabric. After consultation with my much younger fashion critic (DD) I went with not trying to do any pattern matching and used the “reverse” side for the raglan sleeves.
The pattern calls for wrist cuffs. Well no stretch fabric meant I would improvise. I cut a band of material and serged it on each cuff. They are not too tight that I can’t fit my hand through the cuff. Not too loose that a mouse could comfortably run up my sleeve.
It would have to have a hood attached because attaching a band on the neckline with a no stretch fabric was not going to end up pretty. I bound the edge of the hoodie in a matching bias tape.
The band at the bottom did call for a pull drawstring which meant gromments. Now you know I love me a gromment, but knew it would most likely not work out on such a thick fabric. I decided to just go with a band like on the wrist cuffs.
Overall I am very happy with how this project turned out. This is not for the weak to wear. The fabric is heavy and semi stiff. I am wondering how it will feel after a few more washes. I think this is something called a statement piece. People will definitely know it is a handmade item because it looks so unique. In a thrifting store visit this summer I picked up a queen sized thinly quilted commercial quilt. I plan on using it to make a coat and maybe who knows another hoodie.
