Jalie 2795 Hoodie

Sewing just lately has been a bit mixed up, with several projects waiting in mid stream due to missing parts. This hoodie Jalie 2795, was waiting on a 60cm open ended chunky zip. I had a difficult time sourcing the zip.

 

As far as I can determine from speaking to Birch, Leutenegger and Sullivans, this size is not available in Australia. Instead I ordered 3x 56cm zips in purple, (as in 56 cm many colours are available), and 3 x 61cm zips in grey, there being far fewer colours available in 61cm. 3 was the minimum order I could make, but I am sure to use the extras for something, one day. This is why I have a large notions stash!
I ended up using the 56cm zip. It is a little too short at the neck end, but my daughter much preferred the colour, and it is not so cold here that 5cm of missing zip will make her neck freeze.
The fabric is Polartech300 with a sherpa face and a smooth face. I bought it from Seattle Fabrics last winter, and it has been lurking under the bed in my son's room for the last 12 or so months. I did buy some zips from Seattle Fabrics when I bought the fabric but seem to have used them up on something else! There is still a lot of polar fleece under the bed. I am really hoping to use most of it over the next 2 or 3 months, as I am sure I could fit a lot more yardage of other fabrics in the same space!
Uta commented on my jester hat post that
she was suprized that it is cold enough for polar fleece where I live. Where I live in Australia is officially the subtropics, so it does seem a bit strange to need polar fleece, but we are about 80km inland, so in Winter, we have some very cold nights, evenings and early mornings. It may not seem very cold to someone in Germany, but if it hits 0 degrees, we really layer up. Of course by 10 am we can wear shorts and a t shirt, but that is just boasting :. I will be making more polar fleece jackets soon, as my children are visiting their grandparents in Sydney in a few weeks, and will also be visiting the Blue Mountains, where we even have snow occasionally. My daughter has requested mittens to match her jacket.

 

I am happy with the pattern for this hoodie. It is a properly technical cut garment with a high neck and close fitting hood that can be worn under a waterproof shell. My daughter will be able to use this for hiking, not just as a casual jacket. (I made a Gortex jacket last year, so I am off the hook for the outer layer)

 

The sizing is true to the measurements. I made my daughter size R (European 34) which approximates her bust, waist and hip measurements and the only fitting adjustment was to the length of the sleeves. These were a little too long. My daughter is 168 cm tall, which is pretty average, and I do not usually need to shorten sleeves for her.

 

The only design change I made was to line the hood. I think this looks nicer when the hood is worn open, and it adds another layer of fabric for warmth. Due to the bulk of the fabric, I should have allowed a little extra room in the outer hood for the space taken up by the lining, but I don't think the hood has suffered too much from my omission.
Jalie has added their own label as a zipper pull tag. I liked this idea, but don't have a label, so cut a scrap of cotton print on the bias, sewed a tube, then hand sewed it through the zipper pull. This will make it easy to use the zip, even whilst wearing gloves.