Ever wanted to make your favorite hoodie into a raincoat? Pat English is her to show you exactly how to make the adorable Hazelwood Hoodie into a darling little raincoat — complete with softshell fabric, a little placket hack, and a few other tweaks! Read on to see how she does it!
Hazelwood Hoodie for a Raincoat
The Hazelwood Hoodie is a Love Notions pattern that we don’t see nearly enough of! It’s cute and not at all hard to sew and with fall here I thought it would be a great basis to make my granddaughter a rain hoodie. I decided to size up so it would easily fit over other clothes.
What would I need to do? It should be easy to get on and off – how about a placket? I’d need to make the sleeve ends a bit wider. And I had some softshell from l’oiseau fabrics that I’d been sitting on for years now – would it require special handling?
Making a Placket in the Front
The front of the Hazelwood Hoodie is one piece – so I’d need to divide it to make a simple placket. I made the cut 3” from the top. This piece I wouldn’t cut on the fold so that I’d have enough to fold back for a placket.
I added 3/8” seam allowance to my two pieces
After serging the raw edges for the placket, I folded them back 1” and stitched them in place.
Then I placed them one on top of the other and basted them in place.
I made gathering stitches in the top part of the front and gathered it to match the placket piece, basted it first and then serged. Finally I stitched a single buttonhole in the placket.
Other Adjustments
I widened the end of the sleeve from about the halfway point as this will be a coat and will be worn over garments.
I added an inch to the front of the hood so I could wrap it around the placket.
Attaching the Hood to the Body
I wrapped the edges of the hood 1” around the placket and stitched on the hood.
When it was turned right side out, the placket was totally encased in the edge of the hood and I could now stitch the edge of the hood down with a 1” hem.
Further Adjustment Needed
When my granddaughter tried on her new rain coat, she had trouble getting her arms in and we realized that we needed more room in the armscye. Softshell doesn’t have as much stretch as the recommended fabrics, so another adjustment needed to be made.
I turned the body inside out so I could get access to the armscye – which needed to be deepened.
I started about halfway down one side of the armscye and serged a gradually wider seam – to about an inch at the bottom, and then gradually narrowed it to halfway up the other side.
Sewing with Softshell
I’d never sewn softshell before and did learn a thing or two along the way. I cut with a rotary cutter on a mat and found that I had to press a lot harder to cut through my thick fabric. I made sure that all raw edges were finished – I don’t know if it will fray or not and I like finished edges anyway! Pins don’t work very well with softshell and I didn’t want to chance making holes, so I used clips. I used a universal needle on my sewing machine and didn’t have any problems. Gathering was a little more difficult – with the thick fabric it was harder to evenly distribute the gathers. Basting the gathered seams first and then serging made this process a little more easy.
I have made the Hazelwood Hoodie for my granddaughter before.
I straightened the high/low hem on this tunic length version made with cotton/spandex and lined the hood with pink to match the yoke.
And the Hazelwood Hoodie can accommodate a big panel. I again straightened the high/low hem making it dress length for this amazing cotton/spandex panel.
And of course I couldn’t just make the rain hoodie this time – I had to make another outfit complete with Leggin’s to match. Again, the cotton/spandex fabric was from l’oiseau fabrics.
This time, I left off the hood and added the neckband to match the yoke and Leggin’s. My granddaughter tells me she wants more high/low Hazelwoods!
The Hazelwood Hoodie is easily adaptable. Simple alterations can give you whatever look you’re going for. This pattern may be one of the older Love Notions patterns, but is one that will easily stand the test of time.
Link to l’oiseau fabrics (not affiliate) http://www.loiseaufabrics.com
Affiliate link to Hazelwood Hoodie – https://www.lovenotions.com/product/hazelwood-hoodie?affiliates=166
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