Something for the Big and Little Guy's (Tutorial)

So, I've always wanted to do a refashion for my hubby, but nothing really came to me until now. Here I took a simple hooded sweatshirt and transformed it into this:

Not much different, but a change none the less. Good news??? My husband loves it! I was a bit taken aback by how much he liked it. He was happy I finally did something for him, lol. Now, if only I had a little boy to make a matching one for....

Before:

What you need:
-A hooded sweatshirt
-2 to 3 buttons
-Elastic (think broken hair elastics, elastic that holds new shoes together, sewing elastic, etc).
-Seam ripper
-Scissors
-Measuring Tape

How to do it:

1. Grab your seam ripper and take off the hood. (It's really not that time consuming).

2. Take your measuring tape and measure around the neck to determine a rough estimate. Go higher than lower in the measurement to be on the safe side.

3. Take the hood and cut a piece from it that will become the new collar part. I just made mine 2 or 3 inches longer than the measurement around the neck opening. For the height, double the height that you desire. My piece totaled 26" x 5".

4. Fold the piece in half long ways, right sides facing, and cut at an angle on one end. You want the cut angling in towards the side that is open. My picture shows if the fabric was facing wrong sides together.

5. To make the other side even, fold in half and match up ends to cut at the same angle.

6. Sew the side angles together and turn right side out.

7. Next, cut a square/rectangle piece. This is the part that will make it look like there's a flap. I cut mine to be 5.5"x 5".

8. Pin three sides down and sew. Leave the top unsewn because the collar will cover that up.

9. Pin the square/rectangle piece onto the middle top of the shirt and sew on. Just sew right over the sewing you just did to hold the sides down.

10. Now, pin on the collar, with the top facing down. You want it to overlap a little. If you don't like how it overlaps, take off and cut some off or recut a piece if not long enough.

11. Sew the collar and shirt together.

12. Flip the collar up and push the seam down. Sew around the neckline to sew down the seam.

13. Cut 2 to 3 small squares (depending on how many buttons you want to add. I did two) and cut 2-3 small pieces of elastic (mine were 3 inches long each). You will just have to play with the length of the elastic. I just placed my buttons where I wanted them and figured how much I would need to stretch from the square to the button for it to work.

14. Place the square on the side of the square/rectangle with the elastic underneath and pin.

15. Sew around the small squares (I went over the elastic side a few times to make sure it would hold good) and then sew an x in the middle of the small squares if desired. I like doing it for looks and for the extra hold.

16. Determine where you want the buttons and hand sew them on. Put the elastic around them once on and you are all done!