Crafting a Hoodie: Details

Vashti: Likes to sit on fabric and paper

The process with this hoodie has been slow, though the actual sewing went pleasingly fast. It’s just been held up by a number of factors – waiting for the fabric to arrive, waiting for the material for the cuffs/hem to arrive, waiting for the zipper… Getting the free time to actually work on the project!

Thankfully, everything is coming together! I got enough photos to put together another update on our progress. It’s close… So very close!









Since my last update, the fur has been sewn to the hood. That was an interesting process. Used big zig-zag stitches for sewing along the edge, which worked well. I also tried basting down the fur to keep it from getting caught under the machine foot, but that was a long and annoying process and don’t know how much it actually helped.

Besides that, got the hem and cuffs sewn down. The Hem was super-easy, just started at the middle of the back and sewed one direction while stretching out the rib-knit stuff while I went so that it’d naturally contract into the proper shape once it was stitched down. The cuffs were harder, mostly ‘cause they were so small. I learned I’ll need to sew the cuff material onto the sleeves before I get to the sewing the sleeves closed stage. They still turned out alright, and I got the hoodie attached to the jacket. Everything seems to sit just fine and looks quite nice!

The hood, almost complete!

Almost there!

Oh! Forgot that before I got the hood on, I sewed the zipper. That was a first for me, never done a zipper before. I was really worried about getting the lines of the hoodie to match up between one side and the other with the pocket, but a little tailor marks and some careful placement got it all set. I basted down the zipper, which helped a great deal in the final sewing.








After that – the little details! Got to attach those ears and horns… Thankfully my friends helped me get them positioned correctly, though it was interesting getting them to match up from one side to the other. Hopefully I can simplify that process a little. All of that work was done by hand-stitching. It’s not the prettiest, but I think it looks alright and it all seems to be holding just fine!

That means it’s time for the final detail work before the jacket is complete…

Paints!

Always cautious, I did some paint testing on scrap fabric to figure out what would get the color and look I’m going for… Amanda let me use some of her fabric medium, but it didn’t have quite the feel I was looking for. I was hoping to use some spray-paint fabric paint, but couldn’t find any in the color I was looking for. Instead, I used some Tulip soft fabric paints. Those had surprisingly good results. I think I’m ready for the final steps…

The staging area: Ready for the final battle!