It's a Hoodie! No, It's Armor! ~ The Knight Hoodie ~

Who doesn't want a sweatshirt with armor??

A comfy knight costume suitable for all occasions?

When I mentioned in my last blog post that I'd have a new historical costume to share this week, an armored hoodie probably isn't what you were picturing. It's not what I was picturing either.

Things happened and something came up that took precedence over attending the outdoor event with the Saint Louis Historical Sewing Society. So my outfit I was desperately trying to finish for that get-together? Yeah. It's still not done. Honestly, once the other thing came up and I discovered I couldn't attend the event I was a little relieved. I was going to miss seeing everybody, but there was just no way I would have gotten my costume finished to my standards before the event. I'd put off too much until the last minute. It would have been a rather cobbled-together affair in the end. Now I have time to finish it properly - and that is actually happening! This week, in fact, I finished the skirt! But, more on that in future posts. Right now, let's get back to THE KNIGHT HOODIE!!

It's not an 1860's ensemble, but it is a costume-like piece, and it is historically inspired!

For the past couple of years I've admired the Sir Gawain Knight Top pattern by Mother Grimm. A kid's sweatshirt with armor? A knight costume that does not involve an ill-fitting, uncomfortable plastic breast plate and too-small plastic helmet? My siblings and I would have loved to have knight costumes like this when we were growing up!!

My brothers and I went through multiple sets of that plastic armor, which got loved, played with, broken, and discarded. Armored hoodies would have been way better!!

Thus, I've long admired the Mother Grimm knight hoodie patterns. When Mother Grimm announced earlier this year that she would be releasing the knight hoodie pattern in adult sizes, I excitedly went and found my youngest brother.

"Hey! Would you wear this?? Should I make a hoodie like this for you??"

He gave me a resounding "Yes!" 

I immediately signed up to test the pattern.

You can choose how much armor you want to add to your hoodie. Crest? Visor? Pauldrons? Spaulders? Gantlets? 

My brother told me he wanted all the armor. And I mean allllll the armor.

The pattern includes options for either one or two sets of Pauldrons on the shoulders.  For maximum impact (and possibly because I misread the pattern instructions) we combined those two options and went with three sets of Pauldrons on my brother's hoodie.

Combine that with the Spaulders sewn into the sleeve caps and there are 4 layers of armor across the shoulders. My brother tells me he loves how solid the shoulders feel. If you're gonna make an armored hoodie, you might as well go all out!

The shoulder armor is made from cotton-spandex jersey, and stiffened with a heavy fusible interfacing to keep it's shape. The Pauldrons are attached with heavy-duty snaps, so they technically could be removed if my brother felt so inclined.  I don't see that happening however.

Moving on from the shoulder armor, the sleeves feature Gauntlets to protect the forearms. 

Like the shoulder armor, the Gauntlets are stiffened with a layer of heavy fusible interfacing, sandwiched between a layer of cotton-spandex jersey and French terry.

Now I think the hood armor might be my favorite part of this hoodie - just look at that silhouette!

A visor, which snaps into place and can be raised or lowered as the knight chooses, and a proud crest on top!

 The hood armor is stiffened with fusible fleece. This is actually the recommended stiffening for all of the armor, but I only had a limited amount in my stash, so the hood is what got it. I appreciate the flexibility of the fleece. It's amazing for the visor, and I think it would have worked well for the shoulder armor too if I'd had enough. However, I wish I'd used the same heavy interfacing I did in the rest of the armor for the crest as well. The crest is a little floppier than I'd prefer, and I think a stiffer interfacing might have helped with that.

My brother's favorite color has always been green, and his Hogwarts house is Slytherin, so I opted to make his knight hoodie silver and green.

I love the green cotton-spandex jersey I used for the armor and hood lining. It's the most perfect shade of deep forest green! I ordered several one yard cuts of solid-colored cotton spandex jerseys from Purple Seamstress fabrics over the summer, with the intention of using them for baby clothes. I wish I'd ordered way more than a yard of this particular color. Between one pair of baby pants and the accents on this hoodie, I used up every last scrap of green jersey, and now I want more!

Deep in my stash I had a small remnant of metallic silver French terry, which I opted to use for the flat piping on the front and back of the hoodie. A knight needs a little bit of shine in his armor!

The rest of the hoodie is made from French terry out of my stash, picked up from Wal-Mart at some point in the past at an excellent price. Any time I find French terry at Wal-Mart I grab it! It's good quality fabric and my favorite thing to make hoodies from!

All the armor does not make this hoodie a quick sew - but I think the finished result is worth the extra time!

A Knight Hoodie! What could be cooler?

*I received this pattern free of charge in exchange for testing it out and giving my feedback.

All thoughts and opinions here are my own. I was not required to write this blog post.

If you're interested in this pattern for yourself, it can be found here.

I highly recommend it for the casual knights in your life!