I made this weeks ago and am just now blogging it. I liked the Sewing Workshop West End Hoodie when it came out. I had planned to make some changes to it, like swapping out the short, wide sleeve for a long sleeve.
My friend Heather beat me to it and made it up in a red knit. Hers was so cute that I rushed mine to the top of the queue. Heather lengthened and narrowed the sleeve, though she pieced hers with an above elbow seam, having cut it as long as possible on grain. She also pointed out that the short hem on the center front piece was a raw edge. It's the only raw edge in the entire hoodie, which seemed a little unusual.
Thanks to Heather's advice, I drafted a little fold-down hem for the front piece to eliminate the raw edge. I lengthened, and narrowed, the sleeve and omitted the sleeve band. I made the sleeve longer so I could fold back the cuff. As shown in the following photo, I cut it on the lengthwise grain (which also had stretch), so I didn't have to put a seam in the sleeve, but that would also work. I made a size large.
I also removed a bit of the flare at the hip by straightening out the back side seam, as you can see in the following photo.
I used a really wonderful fabric that I purchased from FabricMart a year or so ago, and shown in the following picture. It is a reversible double knit, poly cotton, I think. It's black on one side and coral on the other, and very soft. I finished the seams by hand, flat felling them. Technically, this hoodie could be reversible, except for the zipper.
The zipper is an 18" plastic zipper from Zipperstop.
This is a very comfortable, easy to wear hoodie. I like the shaping of the side seams, which reminds me of the Sewing Workshop Liberty top, another favorite. However, I'm not sure how flattering it is on me, with the Swing back, though I do like how it nips in a bit at the waist. Time will tell. If I do make it again, I plan to make the sleeve a tad wider at the wrist.
