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Today I’ll show ya (or try reeally hard to show ya) how to make the Rainbow Dash hoodie! Most of this came together well, except the hood was a little small for the neck part. I fixed that with a little pleat in front and it looks fine to me. Well, fine for a costume, ya know? 😉

We’ll take ears, mane…

…and wings of course!

See below for the tutorial!

You’ll need:

fleece

hoodie to trace for a pattern

matching thread

rainbow colors of yarn

separating zipper

So first I folded a hoodie of sadie’s in half like so and traced around it-adding plenty of room on the sides for seam allowance.

On the inside seam (where the hoodie was folded, left side of the above pic) I added about 3/4″ for seam allowance. You’ll need this for both the front and back pieces, since the wings will be inserted in the back, and the zipper in front.

Then I traced the hood to make a pattern as well, adding seam allowance. This is where I probably should have made it a bit deeper-just adding some to the front would have made it fit into the neck better. It still fits her head fine, though.

Same with the arm-trace, add seam allowances.

Then cut two of the front and back (just the necklines are different), two of the hood, and two sleeve pieces, on the fold as shown.

I also freehanded some ear shapes-you’ll need two for each ear.

Then I sewed them together around the outside. I was going to turn them right sides out, but it was kind of bulky, and they looked fine to me so I left them like so.

Then I decided where I wanted them on the hood (leave space in the front for hemming under), added a little pleat like so, then pinned it to the hood. Do this with the other ear on the other hood piece, making sure to match them up evenly)

Sew along the edge like so….

…Then flip over and sew on the other side along the bottom. This will help it stand up a little. Repeat with other ear.

Next cut lots of yarn to the length you want it! I wanted her mane more full than the tail so I cut probably twice as much.

Sew the yarn pieces together just like the tail…

Then sew to the top of one of the hood pieces.

Next sew the hood pieces together along the curved edge.

Next hem the front under like so.

For the wings, next make a quick pattern with wingy bumps like so, using your back piece as a size guide. I wish I’d made the base of the wings a bit narrower, but oh well! Cut four pieces of this pattern.

Next pin and sew around the wingy bumpy edges, leaving the flat edge open.

Next I stitched around the bumps like to to form some wingy parts. Just follow the shape as best you can, and mark where you start to match them up together.

Next line them up on the back hoodie pieces, matching them up like so. Pin, and baste the wings to the back pieces.

Then, going slow cause this is a lot of fleece to sew through!….sew the back pieces right sides together. Hopefully your wings will line up a bit better than mine.

Again…it’s a costume. Oh well!

Next sew the shoulder seams of the front and back hoodie pieces together.

Lining up the back of the hood with the back seam, pin and sew in the hood to the neckline. You’ll see I had extra room on either side. I fixed this by adding a little pleat after it was all done.

Sew the curved edge of the sleeve into the armhole like so, repeat for other sleeve, then sew the bottom of the sleeves and sides together.

Next I hemmed the bottom to fit Sadie and the zipper (mine was 12″ I believe) though you can always trim the top of zippers down to fit your project. You can see the space I had on the top of the front piece…I hemmed that under and then added the pleat later .(pic below)

I unzipped the zipper, then sewed each side to the edge of the front piece, make sure to line up the bottom!

Finally, I top stitched along the zipper on the front of the hoodie to keep the zipper pieces laying flat.

I tucked the end of the top of the zipper under and stitched it down.

here’s those pleats I told you about. Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll try to answer them!