Iâve received a slew of asks in the past month or so asking how I made the hood for my God Tier John cosplay, so I figured Iâd throw together a little tutorial. I hope it helps some of you!
For those of you who just need a quick look at the shape of the hood, this is what it looks like when laid flat:
For those of you who want more detail, read on!
I think that the main reason my hood turned out nicely was my choice in fabric. Most people seem to make their hoods out of a light cotton or broadcloth, but I would recommend a silky polyester fabric, like a peachskin. If youâve ever worked with JoAnn fabrics âsilky solidâ fabrics, this is this stuff Iâm talking about. Itâs silky and doesnât wrinkle easily like cotton, and is heavy enough so that it drapes nicely while still being lightweight enough to be bouncy and flowy.
If you canât find it at your local fabric store, order it online - itâs not too expensive! Youâll need about 1.5 yards (hood only) or 3-3.5 yards if you are making your pants from the same fabric (which I recommend, itâs great to have them match!)
No matter how simple the garment, if Iâm not 100% sure how I want to make it, I do a quick mock-up in a cheap cotton fabric (muslin) first. That way I donât waste expensive fabric if I need to make alterations to my pattern, and then I have a reliable/fit-to-me pattern to use when I cut the actual fabric. You donât have to take this advice if youâre impatient, but I would recommend using steps 3-5 to make your pattern out of muslin first before doing it again with your nice fabric.
Step 3: the hood
Lay out your pattern so that the top of the hood section lies along the fold of the fabric, like so:
The measurements included are what I used for my hood, so tweak them as you see fit. When you unfold it, youâll end up with a triangular piece of fabric that looks like this:
Hem and sew as marked - and donât forget to press your seams, itâll make the finished product look much cleaner! The hemmed area will be the part framing your face (ie: it will show!) so hem carefully. I used a rolling hem, which worked nicely, but be careful to iron before you hem, or else youâll get bunched fabric in your hem like I did! Leave the curved section open. This is where you will attach the hood to the mantle. Once everything is sewn, turn it right-side out.
I really donât know if âmantleâ is the appropriate word here, but thatâs what Iâm going with. The mantle consists of four pieces - two copies of the front piece, two copies of the back piece.
Cut two of each piece, so that you have four in total. I recommend folding the fabric on the dotted line when cutting, so that the pieces come out symmetrical. Sew each back-piece to each front-piece as marked, so that you have two pieces that look like this:
Place one piece on top of the other so that the right sides are hidden (pressed to each other on the inside.) Then sew the pieces together, leaving the neck-hole unsewn. You need it open so that you can turn the mantle right-side out again. And press all those seams!
(If you are more advanced at sewing and you donât want any seams showing on the inside of the neck after you attach the hood, leave a few inches (5-6â or so) of the mantle open, sew on the hood piece so that the one layer of hood fabric is sandwiched between the two layers of mantle fabric, while everything is still inside-out. THEN turn it right-side out through the hole in the mantle, and hand-sew the mantle shut from the outside.)
But if you want to keep things simple (or if you have a serger to make the inside seam look neat,) keep reading. The inside seams wonât show very much if you cut them close and zigzag stitch or use Fraycheck them.
Step 5: attach the hood to the mantle
Once youâve turned the mantle right-side out, youâre read to attach the hood!
BEFORE YOU SEW, make sure you can fit your head through the hole in the mantle! Otherwise you wonât be able to get your hood on once itâs finished! If itâs too small, cut it to make it bigger.
The rest isnât hard - just match up the colors, pin, and sew. If the lengths donât match up in places, you can adjust them by taking in/taking out the shoulder-seam on the mantle or the seam in the back of the hood. Youâll notice that the colors overlap a bit in the front. Thatâs on purpose, because I wanted my hood to have a slightly overlapped front, like this:
Itâs a matter of taste! This photo is also a good example of why you should hem slowly and carefully - see the bunching on the left side?
Step 6: finishing touches
Make sure all your seems are pressed, trim any loose threads, and iron the whole thing (from the inside, you donât want to cause any damage to the outside of your hood.)
Congratulations, youâre done!