HOODIE TOWEL TWO: HOOD & BODY

To begin: I had two pieces of fabric, each approximately two yards squared.

I started out by folding each color fabric in half and cutting off the top 14", and setting the larger portions aside.  The person this robe is for is 6' tall, so I wanted to allow plenty of fabric for the main body of the robe.

I now had two 14" x 72" pieces to use for my hood, sleeves, and pockets.

HOOD
I started out by measuring the sweatshirt hoodie.  The base of the hood was 26" in diameter when zipped, and the roomy hood was 15 1/2" high when folded in half.  Now, when wearing a zipped hoodie, your head does not need to fit through the neck hole.  I wanted the hood to be a little wider at the base, so that my friend could fit his head through the neck hole.  I decided to leave a little extra space at the front of the neck to allow for this.

I started out by cutting two 13" x 14" rectangles, one of each color.

 I pinned two adjoining sides together to create the hood shape, and stitched my pinned sides together.

Now, I want to point out here that I made everything much more complicated by using two colors.   If I were making a hoodie robe out of one color, I could have cut out one rectangle for the head, two rectangles for the body, and an additional two rectangles for sleeve extensions (which are optional).  For example, I could have taken a 26" x 14" rectangle, folded it in half, and pinned the top to create the hood:

Not Used: A rectangle, folded into a single-color hood.

Once my hood was stitched together, I had to decide if I wanted a cone-shaped hood.  Many of the tutorials I had read recommended cutting off the corner of the hood, to create a more rounded fit.

 

I found that the hood still had a very boxy shape when worn, so I ended up using the sweatshirt hoodie to trace a more rounded hood.

At this point, most tutorials I read suggest trimming the front edge of the hood with a piece of bias fabric (an accent fabric with all edges folded under that creates a pretty, presentable edge), so that you can sew it onto the body of the garment as a finished piece.   I was not sure how I wanted to finish the hood, so I decided not to finish the outer edge at this point.

BODY
To make the body more interesting, I cut out four panels of fabric.  The body would be comprised of four alternating colors, sort of like a harlequin costume.  Each panel was approximately 18" x 58".

I pinned two panels together lengthwise, and rolled my joined fabrics up into a nice log, with the pinned edge on the outside.  I have found that this facilitates moving and sewing large pieces of fabric.

 All you need to do is position your roll of fabric next to your sewing machine.  The bottom half of the fabric sits in your lap.  Be aware that having so much fabric in one place creates a lot of weight, so your fabric will try to pull away from the machine.  This makes maintaining an even seam allowance more difficult.  I find that it's helpful to stick my right hand through the center area of the sewing machine and tug the already-stitched fabric lightly to the right, while feeding the unsewn portion of the pinned fabric into the sewing zone with my left.  Sew slowly, taking care to maintain a straight seam, and pause every few inches to readjust your roll of fabric. 

I  pinned and sewed my second pair of panels together in the exact same way.  I then pinned these larger panels to each other on one side, taking care to keep all stitched seams on the same side.

I needed to tack my unsewn shoulder seams together, to facilitate construction, so before sewing my new, larger panels together, I sewed the last inch of each shoulder corner.  I then sewed my two side seams, together, from the bottom up, taking care to eave the final 12" unstitched (this is where the arms will need to come out.
I then pinned and stitched the second side seam to create a tube, again keeping the arm opening unstitched.
My stitched body now looked like this:

ATTACHING THE HOOD
I then pinned just over half of my hood (approximately 8 inches) to the back panel, starting at the middle seam.


Pinned hood.

I pinned the shoulders together up to the hoodie, and then I pinned the remainder of the hoodie base to the now-adjoined front panel.  In this way, I was able to ensure a centered neck hole with enough diameter to be slipped over a head.

I

Pinned hood, front view.

Congratulations!
You now have a robe!
Next week: Finishing the edges, and adding sleeves.