BWOF Hoodie

This is Burda World of Fashion Issue 11/06 No. 124. This is the third time I've made this pattern and I do love it. The fabric is quite a lightweight fleece with a lovely cosy furry backing. It was a gift from RuthieK, who had a stash clear out last year and my stash was the beneficiary. Thanks Ruth, it was a wonderful fabric and I had just enough to get the hoodie out with very little left over.

I wasn't sure about the navy ribbing at first but in the end I think it came out quite smart. Instead of putting the string through the hood edge, which didn't work well for me on the earlier versions since I never actually tie it so it just floats about getting into things, I put a length of the navy rib around the hood edge, cutting the facing off the hood edge first. I think this helps to make the navy look like a deliberate design statement rather than the result of a poorly stocked stash cupboard.

I sewed this one almost entirely on the overlocker, except the zipper insertion and topstitching to hold the ribbings down, which I did on the sewing machine. Its supposed to have top stitching on all the seams but if you look closely at the front pockets you can see why I didn't pursue that method. I actually took a smaller seam allowance on this version as the previous fleece version had been too tight. This one is a bit loose, but that's OK, I can fit more sweaters under it that way. Still forgot to shorten the sleeves though so I won't need to wear gloves if I wear this as a top layer.

The zipper was keyed in using pins carefully placed on both sides of the zipper at the top, bottom, edge of rib, pocket top, and half way between pocket and top of jacket and corresponding pins on the jacket itself. The pins were even colour coded. I then matched the pins up, pinned the zipper in place, and sewed it in. I was pleased to find I had a zipper that met at all the key points (I usually have one pocket sat half an inch below the other, and a jacket that is longer on one side than the other).