Dec 5, 2011

Project Handmade Christmas Presents: Hoodie-a-saurus


Okay, AH-dorable, right? So I will get back to these in just a sec.

So as Christmas approaches my brain goes into overload about gifts for others. My handmade gift to-do list pretty much is on overload. Last year I made a couple of handmade gifts...here, here, here, and oh yeah here...and this year once again I just couldn't help myself.

So this week I am going to share some handmade gift ideas with you. Gifts of all kinds, for all different people on your list. I am going to do a little holiday version of my Project Series. Project Handmade Christmas Presents.


I am going to start off the week with my Hoodie-a-saurus. Now, first off, I can't take the credit for the original idea of this super cute sweatshirt. I came across the original idea, where else...pinterest. I fell in love with the idea right away and with several dinosaur loving boys in our life, I knew it was a must.

I knew that I wanted to change it up just a bit. I wanted it to have a little more of a rocker embellished look.

I am so happy with how they turned out and I know our nephews will be too.



So I thought I would give a little run down on how I took her tutorial, tweaked it a bit and made my own version.

Here is what you will need:

cheap sweatshirt ( I got mine at The Mart)
felt, about 1/4 yard for 1 toddler sized sweatshirt
iron on stabilizer
coordinating felt or fabric for patch
coordinating thread
coordinating embroidery floss



First step is to work on the scales. The easiest way to do this is to first determine how big you want the scales to be. I liked mine a little bigger. Draw a triangle in that size. Fold your stabilizer up just enough to allow for your triangle to fit. The folded edge will be the bottom of your triangle. The point will go to the edge you folded up. Keep folding and tracing as many triangles as you will need to go from the back of the sweatshirt up to the front of the hood.

The 24 month sweatshirt took 7 and the 3T took 8.


Cut out your triangles, not cutting on the fold. They will then open up to this diamond shape.


Iron each diamond onto the felt you want. Follow the instructions that come with the stabilizer.


Once all of the diamonds are ironed on, cut out leaving about 1/4" edge all around the stabilizer.


Pin your diamonds with felt side down onto the back of your sweatshirt. Make sure measure what the middle of the back is. Pin first one just above the waist part. Follow up, point to point all the way up the hood. If there is a middle seam in the hood, the middle of the diamond should line up with it.


Pinning over the hood can be a bit tricky...just breath, be patient, and do the best you can.


To attach the scales, start at the diamond by the waist. Sew up the middle of each scale. Again, sewing on the hood is tricky. Go slowly. Again breath and be patient. I did have to rip out stitches on the blue hoodie once because I was trying to speed demon my way through.


Once the scales are sewn on. Fold in half so that you sandwich the stabilizer in. Pin together. Then with coordinating thread sew each scale closed. Starting at one bottom point going over the top of the triangle and stopping at the other bottom point. Repeat with all the scales.


Now you can stop here...but I just couldn't. I had to add some umph.

First I googled dinosaur silhouettes. I picked out a simple one. One that I wouldn't pull out my hair cutting out or sewing on.

This guy was the winner.


For the olive hoodie I used this orange felt. The glory of using felt is that you don't have to finish the edges. You can simply cut out the shape and sew it right on. No applique type techniques needed.




Then you can easy peasy add some rocker embellishment to the pocket with some coordinating embroidery floss. I simply just looped several times around the edge of one spot on each pocket with a needle. The beauty is that it can look a little messy. I mean they are supposed to be rocker dinosaurs, right?

So the blue hoodie was a little more difficult. I chose to use regular fabric for that dinosaur cut out. Which meant I had to either blanket stitch it on or satin stitch. The bad news is that I am not great at either...but because I was going for a rocker look, I knew I could purposely have it be a little rough around the edges...quite literally.



Now the hoodie or hoodies are all done.

I loved both of mine immediately. Not sure Littlest did. In fact during the photo shoot he was a little grumpy about the blue one.


So then I put on the olive one.


Happy it seems in his cousins hoodie-a-saurus.


So it only seemed...


I soon had a photo session catastrophe on my hands. If the hoodies weren't his, he didn't want them on.

So I took my prized handmade Christmas present off him before he could shed tears and probably snot on them.

Now they just need to be lovingly packaged and wrapped up for our dino-loving nephews. I can't wait till they try them on.


Do you have any dinosaur fanatics in your life? I am pretty sure they would love to have one of these! I am told my 19 year-old sister would even like one...hahaha...maybe someday K.

Linking here:
Made By You Monday: Skip to My Lou
Making Monday Marvelous: C.R.A.F.T.
Craft-O-Maniac Mondays: Craft-O-Maniac
We Did it Wednesday: Sew Much Ado
Show and Tell Wednesday: Blue Cricket Design

33 comments:

The Ninja said...

I made dino costumes for my whole family for Halloween 2010, using a very similar process, although since it was a Halloween costume (on thrift-ed hoodies) there was more felt and hot glue than actual sewing. But the costumes were warm and I bought the hoodies big enough that the munches could wear coats underneath.
Daddy, Grannie and Myslef were also dinos, we were not as cute, but the girls loved it.

The Gibson's said...

So cute do your older boys wear them or just third little man? I have a 7 and 5 yr old. I totally want to make one for our 2 yr old daughter! So fun!

Larissa@Just Another Day in Paradise said...

Ninja...that sounds like a fun family costume!

Gibson's...my 5 year old would totally wear one...I didn't make one in his size though...maybe I should!

MacKenzie said...

Remember Dad in the Yellow China hat at all the graduations?? I am thinking that we should make HIM one and he could be T-Rex of the bunch???? Yeah?? He always goes for the fun and goofy. Again I am in awe by the way you can see how to go from the idea to how to make it work.

Melanie said...

Oh My...those are AMAZING! I LOVE LOVE LOVE! My boys would LOVE those too. Thanks for the fantastic idea.

Unknown said...

Too cute! Must pin for when the lil man finally gets here.

Samantha said...

Great job!

I have to admit that I too saw this and wanted to make it....but I made an adult version for my sister!! Is it embarrassing that she loves it as much as toddlers? Naaaaah! xx

Maria-Isabel @ Agape Love Designs said...

This is way cool! My son LOVES dinosaurs.. he would totally love this! :) Thanks for sharing the tutorial!

Anonymous said...

So cute, thanks for sharing the how to

Larissa@Just Another Day in Paradise said...

Thanks everyone! Glad you like the tutorial.

Samantha...my 19 year old sister totally wants one too!

Nicocallie said...

I have looked at a lot of these style hoodies and I like the size of your scales the best would you tell me the height width of the triangles?

Larissa@Just Another Day in Paradise said...

Nicocallie, my triangles were totally drawn to my eye's liking, but they are just about 4" across the bottom and 3" to the top.

Hope that helps!

Cottonista said...

That is a great idea! Thanks for posting.

Unknown said...

GIRL I AM DIEING OVER THESE! My 3 yr old and 6 mo. old NEED THESE, I fear I don't have the sewing skills to make them as well as you. I ADORE THEM.

... AND YOU HAVE BEEN FEATURED ON COM, WOOT WOOT. winks, jen

Maggie Chen said...

Cool! That's so cute. Thank you for you sharing.

Maggie Chen said...

Cool! It's so cute. Thank you for you sharing.

The Gibson's said...

I finally made one for our daughter. It's way cute! Thanks so much for posting this great idea. LOVE IT!!!

Augusthimmel said...

This is so cute - and so easy!
Thank you for sharing this cool idea.

Larissa@Just Another Day in Paradise said...

Gibsons I am so glad you were able to make one!

Kirstin, Thanks I am glad you like it!

gzarbok said...

I pinned this a couple of months ago, and finally ready to get started. I had it all planned in my head on how I was going to put these together. Luckily I took a closer peek at your blog because your tutorial will make it hours easier than what my crazy plans were. I can't wait for my dino-tots to strut (or stomp) their stuff.

Karen said...

These are SO cute!! My youngest grandson who turns 3 this month, LOVES dinasaurs. This would be just the gift for him for his birthday this month or even for Christmas, AND it looks like it would be very quick to make. Thank you for this very nice tutorial! I have some Dinosaur embroidery designs I have been really wanting to use on something and this is the perfect project to use them with!!!

Puff's Glassware Reviews said...

Great idea. I will be making one for myself. Mine will have eyes and nostril on the hood though! Grow old but don't grow up!

Kathy said...

Is felt washable? Have your jackets been washed yet? All set to make these and I am heearing felt has to be dry cleaned.

Larissa@Just Another Day in Paradise said...

Kathy,

You can wash it, but by hand is best. It will pill. These were gifts, and I do know my nephews wore them many, many times.

Kathy said...

Thanks! Was considering fleece but it cannot be ironed so the interfacing would be a problem. Craft felt and felt by the yard should be the same stuff don't you think? (As far as what is available at local craft stores.)

gzarbok said...

I made both of my kiddos these. They turned out wonderful! BUT I used Fleece instead of Felt. I just throw it in the wash machine and dryer. My link to see one turned out is http://create-with-kiddos.blogspot.com/2012/09/dino-hoodie.html

Burkjard said...

I am going to start off the week with my Hoodie-a-saurus. ... jacketwithhoodie.blogspot.com

ozzyty1962 said...

I LOVE this tutorial and couldn't wait to make one! They were easy and turned out great! Thank you so much! I wrote a blog post about it and linked to you.http://knottzofyarn.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

Let me tell you, I loved making this for my son! The best part was that it just went so fast. Thanks for the tutorial. I linked to it on my site:http://sewingbylottery.blogspot.com/2014/10/halloween-costumes-dinosaur.html

Telling by the number of comments, it looks like it has been a big hit! Thanks for sharing!

99 said...

Hi!
Love your tutorial. Have a question about the felt. Do you prefer the cheap dollar store felt sheets or the sheets sold by yards at craft stores?

I like the softer feel of the ones at the dollar stores, but am afraid the colour will run in the wash and/or the material will warp. The yard solf by the felt seem of better quality (stiffer), but are not as soft.

Do you think either will work? Thanks!
Carol

Larissa@Just Another Day in Paradise said...

Carol, I wouldn't use the craft felt sheets. They do not wash well.

Jowett Isaiah Go said...

Looks amazing, it reflects on your kids' faces.
~neck travel pillow

Jabberwock said...

I fell in love with the idea right away and with several dinosaur loving ... cdinosaur.blogspot.com

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