I made this!This is my second sewing project, and the first where I actually planned what I wanted, went to the fabric store, and put the whole thing together.
The reason-- besides having a hobby away from the computer when I go home from work, was to have some super comfortable lounge wear. "Oversized" sweatshirts are more like "vaguely appropriate" sized to me and I always get gipped on my gorilla arms. I figured I could make one myself with all the excesses size I desired.
I found a tutorial here:
I wanted to reclaim whatever manliness I lost by using a sewing machine so I bought some kickass skull and cross-bone pirate fabric. The fact that it's super soft fleece doesn't help, but I'm not wearing it out-of-doors so only the internet knows. Having but one sweatshirt to pattern from, I turned to my Strong Bad hoodie, which I also think is pretty sweet. My wife points out that I should have changed the quilt on the guest bedroom to maintain my image, but I guess it's too late for that.
The instructions start by folding the sweatshirt and cutting out the body with room for seams. I couldn't tell at the time I took this picture, but that cutout is MUCH larger than my sweatshirt+seams; this could probably fit André the Giant.
Sewing up the body and the sleeves was no problem, but I did have to turn to the internet to figure out how to sew the two together. This video was extraordinarily helpful.
Despite the fact that the sleeves were the most difficult, I made the most mistakes on the hood. I had already hemmed the neck, which was a mistake. I also found the neck shrank after putting it on, so I had to rip out the seam and cut a larger V-Neck. Fortunately, I over-cut the hood (like everything else) so I had room along the bottom to sew into the V.
The finishing touch was a pocket just the right size for my iPhone. Because of the crazy pattern, I can't take any good pictures to show it off so just call that a "feature" that the iPhone pocket is camouflaged.
My next goal is to make something I can wear out of the house without looking like a clown :)
