When Stripes & Floral make a Hoodie

If you remember, I made my CoEmi Jessi in drifit back in February. That hoodie has gotten so much wear so far this year! So when Mily Mae Fabrics stocked a black and white striped drifit, I jumped at the chance to sew it up into another hoodie. I thought I'd compare two different hoodie patterns, both in Drifit. 

The reason I love Drifit for a hoodie so much is that it's cool yet warm. It can be worn with athletic wear like leggings or everyday wear like jeans. Basically it's super versatile! Plus, here in Oregon the weather can change throughout the day. In fall especially it will be cool and raining but warm and sunny by the afternoon. Layers are essential.

As I'm sure you've seen, I'm not afraid of color, prints or pairing the two together. I decided the best pairing with these bold black and white drifit stripes was the vibrant Rae floral scuba. I was even able to use scraps of Rae from my G&G Rival Dress. 

As for patterns, I thought I might as well try something new! I really loved the Jessi but was curious about the Sinclair Patterns Skylar too. I had skipped testing the Skylar because I was in the middle of making my Jessi at this point. Both patterns have a similar fit for me and color blocking opportunities but vary in their pocket look and construction. 

The main difference I found was that the Jessi has an integrated pocket with pocket bags. The Skylar pocket goes through and is topstitched in place. 

I chose to use the scuba style hood based on fitting the pattern pieces on my scrap of fabric. There's also an option for a neckband, cowl or overlapped hood. As with all Sinclair Patterns, the pattern pieces come in petite, regular and tall height pattern files. This means that the majority of people don't need to make height adjustments. These files have adjustments throughout for the height and stature accordingly. I am 5'5" tall and use the regular height files. As with all Sinclair Patterns, I measure a size 6 bust, 8 waist and 6 hip. I did grade the Skylar to those specifications for this fit. 

Included in the tutorial for the Skylar is a section on how to add special finishes such as leather as decorative or reinforcement around the grommets or button holes for the drawstring. I had every intention to do this on this Skylar but then got so caught up in wanting to finishing it up, I forgot. The tutorial recommends many different fabrics/mediums. I've found I really enjoy using a fabric vinyl that I picked up at a sewing expo. For this hoodie, I chose to use grommets on my hood for the drawstrings. 

Also, if you haven't made your own drawstrings. Do it. It makes such an awesome finished look and really isn't that difficult. The tutorial includes how to do it yourself which I'd highly recommend. I used the floral scuba for my drawstrings so it would pop against the drifit stripes. The scuba was a bit more difficult to turn as it was thicker in weight, so if I used scuba in the future for drawstrings I would add a bit or width to the drawstring piece. This would just make it a bit wider and easier for turning. 

As for construction, both the Jessi and Skylar took a minute to figure out the pockets. Since the Jessi is in German and translated to English, I can't say much to how the instructions are. I ended up watching videos from the Backstitch sew along group for this portion as I stated in my previous blog post about the Jessi. The Skylar tutorial is very thorough but sometimes a video is more useful for visual sewists. I ended up recording how to do the pocket steps to help with confusion on that. 

Once I had the pocket completed, the rest of the construction was normal as with any other raglan hoodie. 

Another fun option that the Skylar has that's different from any other patterns I've seen is double thumbhole cuffs. I originally printed just the thumbhole cuffs and didn't realize you nest them with the regular cuffs. It's such a cool look in the end and was very simple to construct. 

I recently wore this hoodie to the coast with my family and put it to the test. I loaded my pocket with my kindle, 2 iPhones, a snack and my hands with plenty of room. 

The large hood covers my head wonderfully too. 

My final verdict on the Skylar pattern... I like it and I'd definitely try it again. I didn't think I'd love that the pocket was topstitched down but in the end, this gave me a large pocket that holds everything. I like the semi-fitted shape of the Skylar, color blocking options and added fun details. This is the more approachable pattern with a more thorough tutorial. 

I do also like the Jessi still. I think the Jessi is more fitted especially with the inset sleeves. It does take a bit more work since it's in German and doesn't include a seam allowance. The pockets are individual and smaller overall but the pocket piping look is really fun. 

If you asked me to make a choice between the two, I'm not sure I could. I'd be happy with both! 

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