Welcome to the first tutorial for 2024!
Its been a few weeks since my last one (and probably months). With Summer in full swing here in New Zealand I am of course planning Autumn sews and expecting the weather to eventually cool, right now its hard to imagine when its stinking hot out there and I prefer no layers whatsoever haha.
I have been using the good old FREE B&T Hoodie for my many of my tutorials and this one is no exception.
Colour blocking is the new trend of the season and whats not to love about an easy tutorial using a great all round pattern like the B&T Hoodie? This one is nice and simple, there are plenty of tutorials like mine out there but I wanted to put my spin on it and show you just how easy it is to create a sweatshirt or Hoodie using simple colour block techniques. As always don't stick to the pattern I have chosen, this technique can be used on ANY basic sweatshirt or hoodie pattern out there. It also is a good unisex all around basic style you can even use for Adults if you have a suitable plain pattern to use. You don't have to use a hood either. Just use a basic neckband for a crew sweatshirt version if you want. The B&T Hoodie is a raglan design rather than a set sleeve but the sleeve style doesn't matter, both will work. There will be a few tips in my instructions on measuring and what I recommend but fee free to adjust as you would like. These are just suggestions and what I chose to do, and I am no expert! its just what worked for me. Right, onto the instructions I go.
What you will need:
Suitable sweatshirt or hoodie sewing pattern printed out or traced on paper.
French Terry or Brush Sweatshirting with some stretch (size up if your fabric has no real stretch). I used some from OTY Fabric NZ which has a great selection. (NB: this is a great stash buster so you don't have to stick to plain colours)
Rib Knit for the bands (or just hem if your pattern doesn't include bands)
Pen or pencil
Ruler (or measuring tape)
Pattern weights/or pins
suitable thread for your sewing machine
Plain sewing machine or overlocker (I did all of mine on the overlocker)
Wonder Clips or Pins
Instructions:
So in order to hack your pattern to be colour blocked you are going to need your front, back and
sleeve pattern pieces laid out flat and aligned at the edge of the armscye of the sleeve. You will see in my photo how I have placed the sleeve in the middle and the back and front hoodie pattern pieces beside it but positioned so they are matching at the tip of the sleeve pattern piece. Weigh down with weights if your pattern is prone to shifting or tape onto your table to stop them moving.
Grab your ruler and a pen or pencil and measure down from the sleeve and armhole edge a few centimetres (I just eyeballed it but it was about 5cm). I am using a size 4-5 years as my example. Make a mark on the side seam and draw a line across both the front, back and sleeve. This will be your top panel. You can mark the line with a heavier pen if you want (as I have done).
Measure your first line from the tip of the shoulder/neck to where you marked your top panel line. Use this measurement to measure down from that first panel line to create your second panel/block. Again measure across from that marker, drawing a line across the front, back and sleeve pattern pieces.
You now have 3 panels marked on your pattern pieces. Each one will be a 'block' you will cut out. If you want you can cut your pattern pieces on those lines. I chose not to and instead used those lines to 'fold' my pattern.
Choose your 3 different colours/fabrics and get cutting. Remember to add seam allowances to the panel lines. So the bottom panels should have a seam allowance on the top of the panel, the centre panel should have seam allowance top and bottom, the upper panel should have seam allowance added to the bottom. You should have the following cut out so:
Colour 1: Hood outer x 2, Hood Inner x 2, Upper Front Panel, Upper Back Panel, Upper Sleeve panel.
Colour 2: Middle Front Panel, Middle Back Panel, Middle Sleeve Panel (remember to add seam allowances)
Colour 3: Bottom Front Panel, Bottom Back Panel, Bottom Sleeve Panel, Hem band and cuffs x 2 from Ribbing that matches your 3rd Colour.
To Sew:
Sew each panel together as so:
Upper Panel to middle panel, bottom panel to middle panel. So it should be Colour 1 + Colour 2 + Colour 3 (see my photo)
Continue to sew the sweatshirt or hoodie as normal (I am not providing instructions for that as I am sure you have those with your pattern). Take note to match the panel seams cleanly together so there is a nice even match between each block.
And there you go, a nice easy colour blocked Hoodie. Hope you enjoyed my simple tutorial :-)
Vivien
