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How to Make a Men's Fleece Hoodie

cal patch, contributor

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Here's the finished shirt.

Cal Patch

Cut around the T-shirt in place of a pattern. Don't forget to add a seam allowance!

Cal Patch

A close-up of the armhole, with the folded-back sleeve.

Cal Patch

Here's the finished shirt.

Photo: Cal Patch

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I've been thinking 'round the clock this past month about what to make for our Guy-Gifts-to-Make week. Why is it so hard to make for guys? Usually I would limit myself to accessories, as the thought of making men's clothing tends to send me scurrying. But since I foolishly used my works-for-anyone recycled sweater hat project for last week's post, I decided to face my fear and go for the gold: a men's hoodie. See, I had a revelation at about 2 am last night: Men are square! No, no, I don't mean that they're boring or unadventurous when it comes to fashion (cough, cough). I am referring, rather, to their body shape. Generally speaking, men are fairly rectangular, at least compared with us curvy females. Furthermore, they like their clothes to fit loose and boxy, or in other words, SQUARE. Therefore, making a pattern is a piece of cake!

I used a basic men's T-shirt as my pattern reference (a long-sleeved T or sweatshirt would work even better), and some Polarfleece I happened to have in my stash. Cotton sweatshirt fleece would work great, too.

First you'll need to cut out the five easy pieces (front, back, sleeves, hood, and pocket).

1. For the front and back, I used my lazy method of making patterns: I didn't. Instead, I just laid the T, folded in half along the center front, on top of a double piece of folded fleece (four layers). Allowing for a 1/4-inch seam allowance and a 1-inch hem allowance at the bottom, I simply cut around the T-shirt as my pattern. As I said before, it's a rectangle, so this isn't hard. The only two areas of any minor concern are the armholes and neck. For the armholes, just lift the sleeve and fold it back along the slightly curved seamline to follow for the shape of your armhole. For the neck, use the back neckline for all layers, following the neck seam and not the edge of the band. Once you have entirely cut out both pieces at once, you can separate them and cut one neck slightly lower, making it the front.

Cut around the T-shirt in place of a pattern. Don't forget to add a seam allowance!

A close-up of the armhole, with the folded-back sleeve.

2. Then repeat the same process for the sleeve, following the shape of the short T-shirt sleeve but extending the length to be a long sleeve.

3. For the hood, refer to a hoodie you have on hand to get the slight S-shape of the neckline, and just make sure the neckline circumference will equal that of the shirt neckline. You might want to round the top seam so that it hugs the head, but that's optional. Other than that, the hood is simply another rectangle.

This is the basic shape of a hood, with a rounded top seam.

4. Lastly, I cut a kangaroo pocket, which is yet another rectangle with the upper corners chopped off for the openings.

Now that you've got your cut pieces, you can start sewing:

5. First, hem the openings on the patch pocket, with a 1/2-inch double-turned hem. Turn under the remaining sides by 1/2 inch, pin, and edgestitch the pocket onto the front of the shirt.

Hem the pocket openings first.

Here's the pocket sewn onto the front shirt piece.

6. Then, with right sides facing, stitch the side and shoulder seams, using a 1/4-inch seam allowance.

7. Next, sew the underarm seams of the sleeves. Flip one sleeve right side out and set it inside the shirt, aligning the armhole edges and the side and underarm seams. Sew the armhole seam (repeat for the other sleeve).

The right-side-out sleeve, pinned into the wrong-side-out armhole, is ready to be sewn.

8. Sew the center back seam of the hood, then hem the front opening edge with a 1/2-inch double-turned hem. Seam the hood to the neckline.

9. Hem the cuffs and bottom of the hoodie as you like. I just turned them once, since the fleece is so bulky, and used an overedge zigzag stitch to keep them nice and flat.

I hemmed the bottom and cuffs with a 2mm x 2mm zigzag stitch, encasing the raw edge of the fleece.

Wait, it's done already? And this is what I've been afraid of for all these years?

Here's the finished shirt.

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Comments (8)

AlanAshbaugh writes: Thanks Cal Patch! I followed her instructions for a men's fleece hoodie but with a cooler fabric (sorry cal), and even though it was my first sewing project, it turned out OK [see pics in my gallery above] It took me 15 hours straight because I didn't have a sewing machine so I had to do it by hand, and I still need to do some hemming, but I'm so happy about it! Now I need to find a way to do the pants to match. :)
Posted: 5:45 pm on October 23rd

ojos_verdes writes: Your directions for this sweatshirt were so easy to understand. I couldn't even believe that i made it!! Although, i didn't really use a 'good' and stretchy material for it, so i came a bit small, so i did change it here and there, but you can still see the idea for it. :]
Posted: 5:28 pm on January 4th

redandredder writes: When copying a hoodie from a current garment, make sure that the hood itself is what you want. Although the wearer may be using it, it still may feel a little short in height if the wearer has a long neck.
Posted: 12:49 pm on December 18th

ifthebirdsknew writes: What an awesome idea...i love it and the directions are fab! Now if I could only find a model as fine as the one in the picture. thanks for the idear! xo
Posted: 10:29 am on December 17th

KraftyKritter writes: Love the pattern idea. As a mom of 3 grown sons, never know what to make them but will try this one. They always need the hoodies and can use the embroidery machine to personalize with design. Will post completed project.
Posted: 12:30 pm on December 16th

Sister_Diane writes: What a great idea for drafting a pattern!
Posted: 11:25 am on December 13th

peacebypiece7 writes: Wow! You make it look so simple!
Posted: 6:38 am on December 13th

LindaPermann writes: amazing!
Posted: 3:39 pm on December 9th

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