The problem is; in a big, baggy hoodie you tend to look . . . big and baggy. Particularly if like me you have large boobage, you get the boob-curtain effect, where the clothes hang off the boobs straight down and make the wearer look fat. A baggy hoodie rather than looking sporty says, cant be arsed wearing real clothes today. So I went on a mission to trim all my baggy hoodies into a more slim fit, sporty style.
Hoodie
Sewing Machine
Similar Colour Thread
Pen
Scissors
- Turn the hoodie inside out and zip up. Place on table in T position.
- Locate the pocket and one inch above it make a mark with pen (eyeliner works great). Take your waist measurement (+2 inch, 30inch) and divide by 2 (15 inch). Draw this as a line crossing through the dot you just made - making sure it is central.
- Measure from your shoulder to your armpit (wrapping the tape around your arm) add two inches (12 inches). Half this figure. Measure on the shoulder of the hoodie downwards, making a mark at this figure (6 inches). The mark should be on the seam of the armpit
- Draw a line from the armpit mark to the waist line on both sides.
- Measure the distance from the armpit line to the waist line (8 inches). Take note of this figure. Make a mark along the inside of the sleeve to this figure. Then draw a line from the armpit mark to this mark.
- Draw a line from the waist line to the banding at the bottom of the hoodie on both sides. If the hoodie is several sizes too large, you will need to measure the hips, adding 2 inches and use this to cut the banding down. However if only 1-2 sizes smaller you can get away without cutting the banding and this is easier.
- Before you cut anything you want to stitch along these lines (in red on the diagram) and turn the hoodie the right way round and try it on.
- If the fit is correct you need to turn the hoodie back inside out and do a second line of stitching next to the first (about 5mm from the first line) on the outside edge so you don't make the hoodie tighter.
- If the fit is not correct you will need to either unpick some stitching and make the fit looser or do a second line of stitching to make it tighter. If you try the hoodie on inside out you can make a mark where the stitching needs to come in / out.
- Try the hoodie on again and if everything fits fine, cut the excess material off.