I have been on the hunt for the perfect sweatshirt pattern for Buddy for quite some time. But i kept stalling, never quite finding exactly what i wanted, and doing that classic sewer thing, where i convince myself i shouldn’t buy a pattern because I could draft it myself. Umm no. Don’t tell yourself that. Every time i tell myself that, you know what happens? No sewing. When i’m completely honest with myself i remember that i don’t have time, and it’s better to use someone elses patterns that’s already been tried and tested.
SO on my endless hunt, I forgot something important. Years ago my mom bought a massive stack of vintage patterns at an Op Shop (we call Thrift Stores, Op Shops in Australia) for almost nothing, just because she thought i might like them. My mom is clever. In that stack was this ridiculously adorable, total 80’s childhood throwback, sweat suit pattern. YES.
There are a lot of things i love about this pattern, starting with the cover art. Can we please talk about why that one child is wearing shorts over track pants? Can we also talk about how short those shorts are on the other kid? Or what about that poor little guy in the background with his hoodie string tied tightly in a bow? The roller skates? Oh yes, 1982. Of course.
And i’m not even talking about the best part! This pattern was a Hang Ten collaboration, so it comes with, drum roll please, Hang Ten heat transfers! I DIE. You are instructed to then hand embroider the inside of the transfer to fill it in. I’m so sorry, but I do not have the patience of a saint, so i skipped that… for now. Chris really really wants me to make Buddy a sweatshirt with the Hang Ten transfers on, because apparently as children of the 80’s it is our duty hehe.
This pattern has a lot of variations and i’d like to try them all. It includes a sweatshirt, a tee, shorts, track pants and a zip up hoodie sweatshirt. It honestly seems like the perfect kids sweatsuit pattern – and i feel like a super duper jerk for saying that, because it’s out of print. I’m sorry, please forgive me.
This pattern is a single size pattern, and is apparently for 4-5 year olds. But knowing big 4 patterns often include a lot of ease and Buddy is not a big 7 year old, i checked the body measurements, and they were literally perfectly his measurements, so i knew all would be ok. Don’t you just love it when things work out that way?
The fabric is a grey marl french terry from Potter Textiles in Perth. They’ve now sold out I believe? It’s very soft and incredibly stretchy. I used the wrong side of the fabric for the neck band, sleeve and hem cuffs, and i really love the contrast. Buddy is very sensitive to scratchy things, and he has declared this the comfiest softest jumper ever, so i feel like i’ve won the mum-made-jackpot. He even tried to sleep in it.
I wish i could have shown you how cute it was on Buddy himself, but he wasn’t interested in having his photo taken today, and I try really hard to respect my kids boundaries with things like that.
I’m not sure how everyone else stores their vintage patterns, but i am always terrified of damaging them. So I tend trace out all the pattern pieces (which in this case SUCKED because there were so many and the print lines were kind of faint), and then i store everything in a zip lock back. I hate the fact it’s plastic, but after we had a water leak a few years back that damaged a bunch of patterns i’m not taking any risks.
I can’t wait to use this pattern again, i’m so happy with how it turned out!
