Intergenerational Johnny Hoodie (Vikisews • free pattern)

This article about the Vikisews Johnny hoodie is a bit complicated for me to write. I originally sewed this sweater in November as a Christmas present for my father.

But he wasn’t with us at Christmas and finally he’s not with us at all.

And of course, talking about it again makes me sad. On the other hand, I put a lot of thought and heart into this project that I finally gave to my nephew and I wanted to share it with you.

The free Johnny Hoodie pattern

The Johnny Hoodie is a free, medium-ease zip-up hoodie pattern with a slightly dropped shoulder line.

Seams on the front accommodate the piped pockets, which are quite classy for a hoodie.

Vikisews is a Russian pattern brand whose patterns are available in Russian and partly in English too.

The free patterns, in particular, are much less numerous in English than in Russian with only 2 patterns for women and the pajama pattern visible below for children. I don’t really understand why the pattern is duplicated for boys and girls… are we afraid that the boy’s pyjamas will make the girl grow a willy?

Freen patterns but in Russian only

It reminds me of an exchange I heard today at a sewing flea market.

• A customer: “Hello, do you have any yarn balls for babies?
• The saleswoman: “Yes, if it’s a girl” (grabbing an dusty pink yarn skein)
• Me, who couldn’t help but intervene: “Really? A boy can’t wear pink?“
• The saleswoman, a bit embarrassed : “Well yes, besides it’s not really pink“.
• … (◔_◔)

Anyway.

My nephew, who would get a good laugh out of this kind of bullshit with his pretty pink trainers

I found an interview with the creator of the brand, Viki Rakusa, who now employs around 40 people to produce the patterns, translations and online courses.

The Vikisews patterns are sold (in English) for around 10$ per size in 4 different heights (from 38 to 50 in Russian sizes)… which makes them quite expensive in my opinion. Since we really only have one specific size.

The patterns in Russian are sold between 3 and 5€ with blocked text instructions (i.e. you have to use a translation tool capable of translating an image because the text is not copy and pasteable).

The instructions are very detailed, illustrated with photos and above all always aim at a finished product with the best possible finish.

Sewing the Johnny hoodie

On this project, the choice of pattern came after I had flashed on the French Terry Octopus (how and where remains a mystery as I had never heard of this German shop before).

Probably another trick from the social network.

I was a bit hesitant to order because of the shipping costs. I finally took the plunge, justifying it to myself as a Christmas present for a nephew… so if it’s for a present, I’m less guilty of buying it up, m’kay?

That said, I had consulted the nephew in question (not the one in the photo, another one), who told me that the fabric was great “But like just for sleeves because everywhere would be too much“.

So the idea changed from “sew 1 sweater for my nephew” to “sew 3 pieces, one for my nephew and one for my father and get the remnants for a project for myself“. And off I went!

To complete the project, I bought 2 more 1 metre pieces of French Terry in matching colours and started playing Tetris again…

This game has really left its mark on me apparently.

After much hesitation, I chose the size 40 in height 170-176… and despite the change of recipient, it still works.

The sewing went rather smoothly, mainly using the sewing machine rather than the serger as per the instructions.

The seam allowances were finished on the serger after assembly.

In the small details that make a difference, there is the tape at the back of the zip to stabilise and hide the seams…

… and the tapes to support the pockets inserted under the zip facing tape.

In sewing the Johnny Hoodie, I had 3 problems:

• the plastic zip that I managed to melt (fortunately, I managed to ” scuplt ” it back into shape afterwards)
• the hood topstitching that I did 3 times and that ended up with…
• …a small hole just 3 cm left of the top of the zip due to some slight frustration while using the seam ripper for the 3rd time at the same place

After a big moment of despair, I had the idea to hide the hole in plain sight thanks to a bit of vinyl and the Cricut from the Fablab.

And I must admit I’m quite happy with this unexpected finishing touch (well, I could have done without the hole, but without the hole, there’d be no disappointment; without the disappointment, there’d be no nightly cogitation and without cogitation, there’d be no tentacles. As they say, a blessing in disguise).

Conclusion

This free Johnny Hoodie pattern is really high quality and I would really like to see it in English to take advantage of all the details in the Vikisews instructions.

The details are refined and the fit perfect. It would be worth it to be made in a fabric with a bit more stable (here the French Terry is very thin and elastic) to show more the nice fit.

I am finally happy to see this pattern on my talented artist nephew… although of course…