Sewing Kids’ Sweatshirts

You know that feeling you get when you see your child’s wrists sticking out a couple of inches from their sweater or sweatshirt and think to yourself, “When in the bloody world did you grow out of that?!”?  I guess while I’ve been sewing for myself, my girl began outgrowing everything.  I mean seriously, like 2″ of wrist was showing!

The thing about her is that she just grows up and not out.  This has begun to make it crazy when grading between 3 or 4 sizes for length, so I decided from the beginning to make them a bit larger than her chest size to accommodate layering and the rest of the season too.  Currently her chest measures 21.25″, waist is 19″, and her height is 46.25″.

The first pattern I selected was the Constance Sweater from Sew a Little Seam.  It’s part of her Meaningfully Made Collection, where 100% of the pattern’s proceeds go to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.  The pattern itself is $4 which is incredibly reasonable for a regularly priced pattern, especially with the number of options that are included (it’s totally loaded with options).  She also has a women’s Constance Top, Tunic, and Dress too which I have but haven’t made yet.

For this sweatshirt, I made the tunic version with long sleeves, elbow patches, kangaroo pocket, and bands.  I made a size 4 and lengthened to a 6.  I don’t know why I shy away from patches, but I really wanted to add something special to it.  To be honest the patches are really just raw edge appliqué, but for some reason my inner dialogue goes something like, “Oh my gosh those are going to take FOREVER! They’d look cute though…hmmmm…but seriously like FOREVER!  And I have no coordinating thread.  Ugh and I’d have to take out the wonder under and set up my sewing machine…”.  It goes on and I hem and haw, but this time I just did it, and it really took less time than my hemming and hawing does.

The kangaroo pocket is another thing I’m always hemming and hawing about.  A poorly placed kangaroo pocket can totally destroy a well made sweatshirt, so it definitely takes time to place correctly.  It was totally worth it though because my girl is loving pockets right now.  I just measure and remeasure all around the pocket, and I like to use lots of pins or wonder tape to hold my pocket in place.  Don’t want any of that shifting while sewing!  I also use tissue paper between the fabric and feeds dogs to cheat and keep everything from shifting.

Her only criticism is that she wanted a contrasting bottom band, so I may change it out.  She said it in this sweet sheepish way that meant she didn’t want to hurt my feelings.  She’s very happy with it though and has already worn it a few times.  The fabric is a light to medium weight French Terry from Cali Fabrics, and the contrasting French Terry is lightweight and also from Cali Fabrics.  What can I say, I love their FT!  Both fabrics are wonderful, and the charcoal gray FT is quite soft too.  I have two other tops I’ve made with it that I’ll be sharing soon…

The second pattern I selected is the Comfy Cowl Hoodie* from Rebecca Page* patterns (formerly Mummykins and Me).  I’ve actually had it printed out for awhile because I love a cowl/hoodie pattern!  This pattern combines sizes which I found made it very easy to choose one for my girl (size 5/6), although it doesn’t have tons of options, I think this is a great staple pattern.  The instructions are clear, and she has a sew along for it on the blog.

I used another Cali Fabrics’ FT for this one too which has a gray heathered right side with a pink loops reverse side.  It’s lightweight and has a nice drape which I think is perfect for the cowl hoodie.  I used scraps for the ribbing because she wanted contrasting bands, and this yellow ribbing is wonderful.  I found it awhile back from Girl Charlee, but I haven’t seen this exact type there since.

I again selected the kangaroo pocket and didn’t add the faux ties (probably because they would take longer and I was feeling a bit lazy).  She loves how comfy this sweatshirt turned out, and I think it’ll be perfect paired with some shorts over a swimsuit this summer, you know when you’re still at the beach or boardwalk when it cools down after a fun day of swimming.  I’m thinking ahead folks.  I can’t wait for warmer weather!

This last one is the new Altitude Pullover* pattern that was recently released by Peek a Boo Patterns*.  I really love the ability to use coordinating fabrics and those hidden pockets are so fun!  It looks cute and is very simple to sew.  It can be made with knits like jersey, interlock, and French Terry, and includes a neckband or cowl neck.

I made my girl the size 4 with 5 length in coordinating FT from Raspberry Creek Fabrics.  This FT is kind of “spongy”.  I really don’t have any other way to describe it.  It’s kind of strange, and I had to be very careful with my needle size choice because larger needles really highlight each stitch hole.  I do like how soft it is, but after some washings the color does fade a little.  I know people LOVE their FT, but I’m not super crazy about it myself (I do love her stretch jersey knit though which rivals some of those way more expensive designer knits).

The cowl neck was an obvious choice because it’s so cute and keeps her neck warmer.  It can also be folded down like a collar.  The contrasting bands are a cotton/spandex also from CaliFabrics.

The pockets are her favorite part though because they go all the way through and up.  She really enjoys shoving her hands all the way to the top, which annoys me to no end because she acts like an alien is coming out of her chest (this is totally awesome at the store…you know, over and over and over with her body flailing all over the place).  This pullover came together very quickly and easily though, and I will definitely be making more because it’s perfect for knit scraps!

Each of these patterns is unisex and has coordinating ladies’ versions too, and of course I have them all, so there’s going to be more mama matchy-matchy down the road.  If you’ve read to the end of this post, congratulations because this was a long one (did you have a favorite?)!

Aaaand back to some selfish sewing!

*What are affiliate links?  When you click on my affiliate links, you pay the same amount for what you buy, but the designer compensates me with a percentage of your purchase with no extra cost to you.  It’s like a sewing commission that lets me sew EVEN MORE STUFF!