I got the date completely wrong for this one again and thought I had another week to make it, when in actual fact the reveal date was last Sunday. If it had been any other pattern I would just have skipped it, but I actually really need a new hoodie, since my beloved grey Nike hoodie bit the dust a couple of months ago.

There are an absolute ton of different options for the Hey June Handmade Halifax hoodie and you can see all sorts of interesting versions if you do a quick search, from a sweater with interesting design lines, to a cowl neck zippered hoodie. I knew that I wanted a traditional front-zippered, hooded-hoodie and this is View C from the pattern. It’s the most time-intensive, but even this version didn’t take very long at all – half a day at most.

The first thing to say is that I think the designer has done a fantastic job with the pdf and instructions. With so many versions and instructions it could have gotten very messy or very wasteful, resource-wise. However, my Version C pieces printed off in an extremely logical and satisfying manner. I taped them together with minimal cutting out and in a fraction of the time some other pdfs take. The instructions involve some flipping around to the section that applies to your version, but it’s all extremely well laid out and so I didn’t have a moment of confusion as to where I was supposed to be. Kudos to Hey June – that’s quite a feat!

I wanted to make up the hoodie in this retro-cassette brushed French terry, but I only had a yard of it. That was too little for even the most careful of rearranging and so I decided to do the hood in a dark grey French terry and had to cut one of the sleeves in two pieces. Since it’s a fairly busy print I didn’t think it would matter too much, but then I had the idea of reverse-coverstitching the resultant centre seam on both sleeve pieces and – hey presto – I think it worked! The fabric was a dream to work with and the brushed inside makes it oh-so-cosy to wear, which is just what you want in a hoodie!

I used my walking foot for most of the sewing machine work, but I must admit I did use my serger for the majority of the seams and larger pieces, which made short work of the construction. The kangaroo pocket went on first and is a good size: not too big, not too small. The front and back are sewn together, the sleeves are sewn in, and then the wristbands and waistband are doubled over and attached in the same manner as for any t-shirt or sweater. I’ve sewn plenty of those now, so it was a fast and straightforward process.

For the zipper I used a 30″ separating sport zipper from JoAnn Fabric and I think this was about the right weight and width for a hoodie, as you want a little heft to stop the zip feeling flimsy. The attachment was nice and simple because of the separating feature (it doesn’t get much simpler than this when it comes to zippers), but the instructions had you use twill tape to finish the inside off neatly. My zipper was wide enough that I could fold back the actual zip itself and just sew that down – it was wide enough to finish the inside just fine.

I did come a bit of a cropper at the top end of the zip. I shortened it and then removed several of the teeth as instructed, in order to be able to attach the hood neatly. However, I went a little too far with the tooth-removing and ended up having a bald edge that my hood binding didn’t quite cover. What this meant was that my zip pull just zipped straight off the top as there was nothing to stop it there! Whoops! I consulted the oracle (i.e. the internet) and decided to buy some little zipper top stops, which are basically just the short pieces of metal you see at the top of a regular zipper to stop the pull coming off. I clamped a couple of those on and it did the trick – but just watch out yourself so you don’t do the same thing.

Aside from that little error, the construction was fun and easy. I like how professional the hood binding makes the inside look – I would never have thought it would make such a difference! The shape of the hood is perhaps a little pointy for me, but that’s easily adjusted another time. I made the 1X, which was a bit of a surprise to me (not in a good way), but vanity aside, it’s a decent fit. It’s a little long and the sleeves need an inch or two taken out, but it has a nice amount of room for clothes underneath without being too voluminous. I could go down a size, but if you like your hoodie fairly roomy, don’t bother.

Overall, this is a very solid pattern from Hey June Handmade and has proven very popular in the indie market. I’ve seen a lot of nice versions of the Views B and E with the cool diagonal style lines, so may just pop one of those onto my eternally-expanding pattern to-do list.

PS. No headshots today because I have a horrendous cold. I would like to show you the hood up, but, believe me, I’m doing you a favour. I look a little like that kid from The Exorcist and you might never be the same again.