A few years ago, I was tempted into buying a piece of merino sweatshirting I saw on TradeMe. It wasn't cheap - about $35 p/m from memory, and a minimum of 2 metres, but I was intrigued because I hadn't seen merino in this form before (nor since), plus it's my favourite colour. The idea was to make something warm for shavasana, as my yoga class can be chilly mid-winter. I pinned many ideas over the years, before settling on a classic hoodie.
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| At Moeraki boulders wearing Kelly Green Merino Hoodie (Butterick 6101) |
An old, tried-and-trusted pattern - Butterick 6101 (ca. 1980) became the basic template, with a few tweaks. Pockets would be a must, plus I added cuffs and a hip band. The hood in the pattern is lined, but because the merino has a wonderful soft fleecy backing, I left it unlined, instead making a flat-felled seam down the centre back to keep it neat.
The hardest part was finding a zip and cord to match. I considered white, lime green, daffodil yellow, brass and chrome, before finally finding a dark green zip in The Fabric Warehouse - not perfect, but close enough. There doesn't seem to be any cord in Wellington that isn't black or white, so I created my own out of fabric.
Hands-down my favourite make in recent times.
(BTW, can anyone tell me what happened the lady's leg (with the tennis racket) on the pattern?!)
2 comments:
Your hoodie looks great and I agree, kelly green is a great colour. I'm curious as to how you made the cord out of the merino fabric???
Helen
To make a fabric cord - cut a strip of fabric the desired length by the desired finished width, plus seam allowance. (Mine was 60cm x 4cm with 1cm seams; however for thinner merino I'd make it 60cm x 3cm, and seam 6mm). Folded the strip in half down the length (wrong side out) and make a tube by stitching 1cm(6mm) seam from the raw edge, leaving the ends free. Turn the tube through to the rightside. To keep some bulk to the 'cord' don't trim the seam. Thread the 'cord' through the hood facing and knot the ends. Hey presto!
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