I had forgotten about this project when I did my Project Round-Up… but I think this one was an April project anyways so it doesn’t have to be with the March round-up. I’ve already written a review about it on Pattern Review, and because I am feeling a tad lazy, I’m just going to copy my review here and then embellish.
I was sitting around staring at some heavy grey wool knit that I have in my stash. It is just crying out to be used, but it is quite challenging. There’s only about 2.5m of it, and it’s only 115cm wide. I draped it on my dress form and it just made the most beautiful cowl shape, which got me started thinking about hoods. I decided to try adding a hood to a cardigan that already had a shawl collar, and it just so happened I had a pattern to start from: McCalls 7254. I made this a few years ago in my blue & orange phase, so I knew it was a good pattern.
I took the facing pattern piece out, laid it under some tracing paper, and started improvising. It took a few tries of cutting out a piece, putting it on the dress form, then going back and adding or subtracting pieces of paper. I used a lot of tape! But in the end, I got a pattern piece with a shawl collar cut right onto the facing.
I found this ponte knit in my stash and figured it would be good for a wearable muslin. It’s really beautifully soft and has a wonderful drape. The colour isn’t really going to coordinate with other things in my wardrobe (it was another “OMG PRETTY” purchase that didn’t get planned out properly).
Once I had this piece figured out, I just had to rejig the pattern layout… fortunately I had enough fabric for the whole thing! (No, I did not check that before I cut out the first facing/hood piece… just wung it and figured I could colour-block with black ponte if necessary).
Sewing this together went fairly smoothly, aside from accidentally attaching the bottom/back peplum to the inner facing upside down the first time. Took a bit of head-scratching to figure out why the two facing pieces didn’t match, hah! I did interface the facing/hood piece as the instructions say to do… this makes it a bit heavier and that’s good because the hood doesn’t flap around. I used knit tricot interfacing for this, and pressed it in place using a cotton pressing cloth to ensure I didn’t burn or scorch the ponte knit.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
Likes: The sleeve cap fits really nicely into the armhole. The shaped peplum is a stylish twist on a standard cardigan. It sews up quickly and easily.
Dislikes: I wish there was a provision for lengthening the body below the waist. I am tall and I could use another two inches so the bottom of this would sit at a nicer place. Also, I need to add some overlap across the front (or lose some of my spare tire) and maybe a closure on the front.
Would you make this pattern again? YABSOLUTELY!!! This was really fun. I love the hood. Even my pre-teen son tells me I look “chillin’” wearing it in my cozy pandemic isolation mode. I can imagine this in other fabrics too.
I would definitely recommend this pattern to people as either a beginner project or a very quick and satisfying stash-busting make.
