Mile End hoody in both views, by Closet Core patterns

When this came out I wanted it right away but I was in the middle of a winter hoody binge and it really seemed like I should keep using the patterns I already had.  Eye roll.  I should have bought this right away. The papercut patterns undercover hood will always live in my heart but I think I've hacked it to its limit now and need to move on.

This is an amazing pattern.  The back seam wraps around to the front.  The sleeves are in two pieces and have an elbow dart.  The hem is also pieced.  

So add to that story: beautiful rainbow striped terry cloth from Blended Thread, and me post night shift.  

What could possibly go wrong?  ...with pattern matching across 6 pieces on no sleep?  OOPS

I made size 4 and I ran a commentary to my best friend as I tried to pattern match and that kept me awake and in good spirits through the drama.  It was pretty dramatic!  Because as much as you want it all to line up overthinking in my case always wins and everything is always off by 1 mm.  Just that little bit.  And then it all goes to hell with those elbow darts.  BUT at the top of the sleeves my matching is perfect, and it ends up that's the only spot that matters. 

 

I love this. It is a classic oversized, cropped hoody.  It's not super long.  I do however feel the draft up the sides, and in this fabric it's not warm at all.

The blended threads terry cloth is a bit stiff and not very stretchy, making it hard to get the bands on.  There's some white that shows through when it's stretched.  I love some of their designs but I have so far not been impressed with the fabrics and I don't think I would pay the shipping again. 

I obtained white terry cloth fabric from The Fabric Box to make the next one in the other view and ice dye it.  I have determined it's best to make an item and then ice dye it rather than the other way round, however the distressing problem is if the dye job comes out ugly you have wasted some time.  Making the hoody was slow because I was deep in moving, but it was fun as projects go and forced me to get friendly with my coverstitch machine, which is not a bad thing.  The ice dyeing was literally one of the last sunny days I was in Gisborne and was a bit stressful (ie late to work) but I love the result (and the other things I dyed are also amazing.)  In this case as well I had band problems - I absolutely could NOT use self fabric bands the length of the pattern piece.  I had to remove one half sewn on.  I think I added 3-4 cm and that was still barely enough.  So if you are not using rib, considering extra length on the sleeve bands.  The hem doesn't require as much stretching so it's not relevant there. 

 

Sadly I have to say - these are both beautiful, nicely made, based on good inspiration, I have no complaints...and I can't really find any place to wear them.  They are roomy so they aren't warm.  They are quite short so anything under them hangs out and looks sloppy - and I'm short.  The sleeves are really spacious.  The hood on the hoody version is gratuitous, it's the kind of hood you never wear up. 

I have been inspired by the many hacks on Insta - it's definitely roomy enough you can make it in a woven then just add stretchy bands.  It's tempting to try something like that.  Also I get now that the front tie pulls it in, and though I didn't like the look of that in the pictures, it's possible I would love it in real life and that it would make the hoody feel more cozy. 

So now that I have made both of them (sorry my new photo spot is not getting me very crisp pictures and my hair really needs more attention...) I think I'm done with this pattern for now while I mull over whether I have any use for it.  Unlike a lot of my projects I love both of these and I'm keeping them despite not knowing how I'll wear them.

Halfmoon Atelier Anegada

I've had this pattern for awhile -it's one that I didn't get to test because I was living in Nepal at the time - once I got it I had to wait for just the right fabric.  Which came while I was in Switzerland recently!  I picked up this very stretchy, sparkly rainbow from the sale bin, and definitely didn't have enough to make the cardigan I was envisioning.  As I was tetris-ing pattern pieces I realised the drape would make this a perfect Anegada, and the stripes meant I could get some fantastic diagonal bindings.

I do recommend, no matter how much you think you know everything about making tshirts...to not only read the instructions but to understand them.  Oops.  I read through what to do on the front neckline tucks, but didn't understand at all.  I made some halfhearted pintucks, the sewing machine gobbled up all the fabric, and in the end I ripped everything out except two tucks on the sides that I couldn't undo without damaging my light fabric.  The binding is long enough that the excess didn't even gather and I would just skip doing those tucks in the future.

It felt weird to be cutting huge bindings on the bias!  But so worth it.  The rest of this top went together without a hitch on my amazing new overlocker and I wore it the next day (and many since.)

Size: 3, consistent with everything for me by Halfmoon Atelier.
Sleeves: I removed 1" before adding the binding, because they were too long otherwise
Length: I removed just under 2" at the lengthen lines: the amount from the line itself to the edge of that piece of paper on the pdf pattern.  If I wanted this to hang at my waist without pooling I could remove another 2 inches!  

I recommend drapey fabrics to get the best out of this pattern.  Because I didn't tuck, my front probably drapes a bit more than it's supposed to.  I really like using stripes on the bias!  I think it gives the pattern something really unique.  Also I was pleased to see it goes well with these shapeless green pants of mine - I don't really like tucking things in and was struggling to find good matches with them.

I rushed out of my house to get sunset photos on the mesa with huge thunderclouds in the background!  It was a weird spot to take pictures and I'm really looking forward to owning my first tripod instead of making rock structures to put my camera on.