Colorblock Hood Hack

Today I am showing you a fun colorblock hood hack!

Halloween is coming up and my youngest wants to be a puppy. It will be cold on Halloween, so I knew I wanted to make a cozy hoodie and pants outfit for the costume. For this project, I am using Powell for the hoodie, because with the scuba hood I like the high neck for the costume, and relaxed fit Lynx leggings for the pants. I knew I was going to make some ears to attach to the hood, and decided I wanted them on the sides. The Lily pattern is my go-to hoodie for ears on top of the head, like cats and unicorns, but for this one I wanted a side-ear look. I decided to hack the hood into multiple parts and insert the ears into the seam. While I am using it to make an animal-ear-hood, you can use this technique to make a cool colorblock hood too!

For this hack, I am using the Powell hoodie pattern, but any hood will work!

Precision DISCLAIMER NOTE:

For this hack, I wanted to slice the hood into two sections and then sew them back together. Of course by doing it that simply, you are losing some of the fabric into the seam allowance. The proper way to do this in a technical sense, would be to cut the pieces and then add back in the seam allowance. If you want the hood to end up exactly the correct size, you need to do this. That being said…. I chose to go a slightly different way with my method, and while it is not 100% precise, it is totally functional, and much faster and simpler. Because the hood is big and does not need the perfect fit of, say, a bodice, I liked this method for ease and speed. Read on for the method I used!

Step One

Begin with the hood pattern piece you need (Pink) AND one size up (BLUE). The layers function on the patterns make this very easy!

Step Two

You will use the PINK line (your needed size) for most of the hood, but the BLUE line (one size bigger) for the outer curve. The black line shows the line you should trace for your new piece.

The idea here is that by beginning with the hood one size too large, once you cut and sew, the fabric you lose in the seam allowance is pretty close to the difference in size. (Remember, this is NOT exact!) By going up one size in that outer curve (or two sizes depending on the pattern you use), you are gaining roughly what you need in seam allowance without having to measure and try to draw it in on those curves! While not precise, I find the overall shape of a large hood to be forgiving enough to work out fine for this colorblock hood hack, but you can certainly draw in seam allowance lines if you prefer it to be precise!

Cut out on the black line and begin with that piece for your pattern.

Step Three

Draw a curve on the pattern piece where you want your colorblocking to be (red line).

Step Four

Cut along the red line. You now have two separate pieces.

Step Five

Cut out your pattern pieces. Because I am using Powell, the main piece will be cut on the fold to give me the scuba neck. The smaller pieces will be cut mirrored.

To sew an animal ear hood, continue on! If you are doing a simple colorblock hood hack, skip ahead to sewing the pieces together.

Step Six

Trace out the ear shape you want and cut out two mirrored sets. Pin/clip right sides together. Sew. Turn right side out and press. (I actually didn’t press these because I wanted kind of poofy non-crispy puppy ears.)

Step Seven

Mark on the main hood where you want the ears to go. I like to do this with the hood still on the fold so that I know the two sides are exactly even. Pin the ears to the main hood right sides together. Baste in place.

Step Eight

Pin the curved piece back to the main piece right sides together. You are working with curves so go slow, use a lot of pins or clips, and really ease into place. I find it helpful to baste the pieces together, then serge. Repeat with other side.

That’s it! Follow the pattern tutorial to finish sewing your hoodie!

I hope you enjoyed this fun colorblock hood hack! My kiddo sure loves this new puppy hoodie set and I already have ideas for other ones I want to make!