Today marks the 8th Sew My Style reveal day, which means that we are officially ⅔ through this year! That is CRAZY! Even though it is very much still summertime here in Texas, the rest of the northern hemisphere is beginning to transition into autumn, making the Halifax Hoodie the perfect wardrobe addition. I absolutely love my version, so you will find me rocking it indoors in the AC with shorts for the next month or so still!
Printing and trimming this pattern was no problem at all, which is what I’ve come to expect with Hey June Patterns. The pattern is size layered (my favorite), and the instructions clearly specify which pattern pages you will actually need to print based on which view you have chosen to sew.
I am not a huge fan of hoodies, so I opted for View B, the simple banded neckline version with some really cool seam lines on the front of the sweatshirt. I cut and taped the pattern and cut my fabric pieces while watching So You Think You Can Dance on my mini-vacation in Austin (side note: I followed this show so closely through the first few seasons, but stopped watching 5 or 6 years ago once I graduated and moved… WHY? It is SO GOOD.) I had to play a bit of fabric tetris to make the idea I had in my head happen, but even with some minor changes to the pattern to accommodate this, I had everything cut in less than 30 minutes or so!
The need for fabric tetris was entirely my fault! I did not look at the pattern design closely enough when choosing my fabrics, and assumed that there was a back feature piece that mirrored the front feature piece. The pattern called for 1.5 yards of fabric in total for View B, so I figured I was playing it very safe by getting 1 yard of my black fabric and 1 yard of the floral stripe. My vision was to feature the floral stripe on the front (and back), with the sides, sleeves, bands, and cuffs defining the cool style lines in the solid fabric. It wasn’t until I started cutting out the pattern that I realized that the sides and back are all one piece! I still wanted to maintain the vision I had in mind, so I chose to use the floral striped fabric only on the center front piece, and to use the solid black for all of the rest. I ran just shy of enough fabric, so to counterbalance this, I decreased the length of the back hem band piece, and transferred that same amount of length into my front band piece. My seam lines don’t meet the seam lines of the main area of the sweatshirt, but in the black fabric, it is hardly noticeable and I still ended up with exactly what I’d pictured in my head!
One of the things I love most about this particular view of the Halifax is that I find the style lines on the front to be really nice looking – they have almost a slimming effect on the body, as they draw your eyes inward towards the idea of a nipped in waist. I loved hunting through the #HalifaxHoodie hashtag on instagram and seeing how other played up the lines of this version! I think between the horizontal stripes and big old baby bump, I may have cancelled out any slimming effect on my particular make, but I love the way it turned out all the same!
Speaking of the baby bump, I did not make any maternity modifications to this pattern to make it work for me. I would normally have chosen a size small based on my pre-pregnancy measurements, so I went ahead and sized up to a medium for a sweatshirt that I could wear now, but that will also be loose and cozy this winter post-baby. It pulls just slightly over my belly, and has a bit of fabric pooling at the lower back, so I don’t know that I will be able to get a ton of wear out of it for the remainder of my pregnancy, but I will most certainly be living in this once the little one arrives! As I mentioned before, it’s a bit warm for sweatshirts just yet anyways.
The fabrics that I used to sew up my Halifax are both French Terrys from So Sew English fabrics. I fell in love with the striped floral fabric first, and wanted to find a deep charcoal to match to use for the solid areas. However, I came across this black french terry with gold sparkle woven throughout instead, and decided that this was the way to go! I think that if a little sparkle is a possibility, it should always be used! As I have mentioned previously on the blog, I’ve taken this summer as an opportunity to familiarize myself with sewing up many different types of knits – partially because I wanted to become more comfortable with knits this year, and partially out of necessity to make clothing that will fit me!! This journey has given me the chance to sew with new substrates, from new fabric stores, and new patterns / pattern companies. I’ve been lucky enough to find lots of great fabrics, but I will say that So Sew English currently tops my list for places to purchase beautiful, high quality knit fabrics at reasonable prices. So far, I have had the pleasure to sew with these two french terrys, as well as a single brushed polyester spandex and a double brushed polyester spandex from their shop, and I couldn’t be more pleased with all of them. The quality and the prints are impeccable, and I’ve been eagerly planning out my next cartful of fabrics since placing my last order!!
So there we have it, guys – I hope everyone ended up with a comfy and cozy addition to their wardrobe this month! I’m actually really impressed with the number of cool-weather appropriate items I’ve sewn up over the past year – I will be ready for autumn, if it ever decides to come to Texas (don’t get me wrong – I’ll take the heat any day! It’s just nice to be prepared!). Congratulations on sewing along for another month of Sew My Style! Looking forward to seeing your takes on the Fringe Dress / Blouse in September!! I’m hoping to make myself one appropriate for my baby shower! 🙂
Top: handmade by me
Pattern: Hey June Handmade – Halifax Hoodie
Fabric: Sparkle Black Heavy French Terry and Charcoal / Ivory Blush Lilly Stripe Poly/Rayon/Spandex French Terry (currenty sold out, but available in lots of other great colorways) from SoSewEnglish Fabrics
Though the fabric used in this post was generously provided to me by SoSewEnglish Fabrics, and the pattern was provided as a SewMyStyle project leader, all opinions expressed are my own, as always!
- XX Elizabeth
