Things I've Sewn Lately: Avocado for Women

I posted last week about the Avocado hoodie I made for Greg, but I also wanted to show off one I made for myself. 

This one is out of plain old apparel fleece from JoAnn's, which was on sale for $3 a yard a couple weeks ago. The lining for the pockets and hood is a small piece of black stretchy fabric I had left over from something else. Which means that this project came in SUPER cheap. Love that!

This hoodie is super snuggly and I wear it all the time.

I actually made a different Avocado for myself before this one, out of heart-print terry fabric (I know, I know, another heart print -- I swear I can't help it!) I bought off Etsy from South Korea. Unfortunately, since it wasn't very stretchy, I sized up, and I don't particularly care for the fit. Also, I royally messed up the hood on that one.

For this one, I sized down to my correct size and I couldn't be more pleased with the fit. The one thing I did need to seriously fix, though, was the sleeve length. For some reason, possibly fabric-related, I had to add a TON of length to the bottom part of the sleeves where the thumb hole is to make the sleeves long enough for me. (Could also be my ape arms -- I'm fairly tall.)

Of course I put the awesome back pockets in this one, so that Greg has a place to warm his hand when he's got his arm around me.

I love the style lines on this hoodie -- they are so different from a normal hoodie and they make it much more flattering than your average college-style hoodie.

I did MUCH better with this one's hood. I had to think carefully about the overlap, but I finally got it together.

And here's a close-up of those sleeves I had to lengthen.

I'm wearing the hoodie here with some Jalie leggings and a Sewaholic Renfrew, which is a go-to outfit for me these days.

Not a whole lot else to say about the pattern since I reviewed it fairly thoroughly in my last post, but definitely a pattern I'll make again. I love this outfit for working at home and when I like a pattern, I tend to make it several times. I was like that with RTW clothing too, back when I bought my clothing. If I find something that I like, that fits well and is comfortable, I want multiples!

How about you? Do you like multiples of the same garment? Or is that just me? ;-)

Unselfish Sewing: A Hoodie for Greg

I recently fell in love with the Disparate Disciplines Avocado Hoodie (they just released a super-cute new mitten pattern, too! That's totally on my to-do list.) 

Anyway, when I bought the pattern, I showed it to Greg and asked if I should buy the two-pack men's/women's pattern (you save some if you buy both.) He enthusiastically said yes. 

I made one for myself first, to test the pattern, then I made this one for Greg. The fabric is a fleece-backed Lycra from Fabric Mart in Pennsylvania. It's a lovely fabric and I highly recommend it. I also made some leggings out of it recently. 

For the pocket lining, we used an old t-shirt Greg had from Bike to Work Day 2009. The bottom of the shirt was the perfect size for a pocket lining. I do wish that I'd lined his hood, though, since the fabric we used is very thin.

The instructions can be slightly confusing -- I highly recommend reading Brooke's post before you start. The flat picture she took really helped me understand how the pockets were supposed to go together. I also took a few tries to understand how the hood was supposed to attach. But once you get it, it's truly a great pattern. The pieces fit together like magic.

The neatest feature of this hoodie is that it features pockets in the back, so that when someone wants to put their arm around you, you have a place to keep your hand warm (and maybe tickle a tummy while you're at it.) Actually, since it's all one giant pocket inside, you could put your hand in and hold hands inside the pouch if you wanted. Awww. 

Basically, this hoodie is super cute in terms of cuddliness. 

Avocado also has long sleeves and thumb holes -- though Greg did request that on his next version, I lengthen the sleeve just a bit. (I made the same alteration to mine.) 

So far, I've seen Greg chop wood, do yard work and hang out around the house in his hoodie, which I've already washed 3-4 times. And, bonus! It fits much more nicely than his old baggy cross country sweatshirts from college.

This was my first time making "menswear" but I think it worked out pretty well, though there are things I'll change slightly for next time (sleeve length, thumbhole placement, hood lining.) 

All my favorite friends wear black hoodies and white t-shirts -- even Lyra and Porter! Though I do hope you'll forgive the dogs for wearing real fur -- they don't believe in fake fur... ;)

Oh right! We got a second dog, by the way. The black-and-white dog on the right is Porter, rescued from the same place we got Lyra. They look like they're plotting against us in this photo, don't they? Poor Porter had to have a surgery this week and isn't feeling so well right now, poor boy.

Greg's so supportive of my sewing habit -- and such a trooper with my requests to just run by JoAnn's "real quick" for some thread -- that it's an absolute pleasure to sew for him. We've already bought some apparel fleece for version 2.0 for him and I can't wait to get started on it. :)

I'll do another post about my own Avocado hoodie; it got to be too much for a single post!