An English Tutorial of Finnleys Freya & Kroodie Sweatshirt Pattern - PART ONE

I have been looking for sometime for a good sweatshirt pattern for my son for the upcoming Winter Months.  Inspired by some great hoodies I have seen on Pinterest I found my way to the German language pattern Kroodie which is a variation pattern for the Freya Vest.  Both are designed and sold by Finnleyswelt and can be purchased from their website/shop.

I only discovered after buying them both that the Kroodie only goes up to size 134cm whereas the Freya pattern I brought was for size 140cm and above!
Because my little guy is almost 10 years old but not quite there in height yet (hes probably only 135cm tall) hes stuck in the inbetween sizes, basically a size 134-140cm so I brought the two patterns I needed.  I was surprised when I realised the Kroodie was just a variation for the Freya child vest pattern and only came in sizes 74cm - 134cm.  But nevertheless I can grade the sleeve variation from 134cm to 140cm and above fairly easily.

What was that you said?

So then I embarked on translating using Google Translate the downloaded and purchased  PDF patterns.  It made for some hilarity when I tried to then translate the translation as 'Rubber' was a translation from the German 'Gummi'.  It turned out Gummi was actually elastic (thanks to the picture tutorial in the pattern) and that the tunnel the translation referred to was in fact the elastic casing.  You can imagine my confusion when it said Rubber Tunnel??

I then googled and went a bit silly surfing endlessly on Pinterest in the hopes there might be a tutorial in English.  Either I just chose the wrong phrase or one just didn't exist because there didn't seem to be one out there in Internet Land.  So that brings us to this blog entry.  If you like the look of the Freya Vest with the Kroodie variations (Sleeve & tube neck) but like me aren't a native German speaker I am hopeful my tutorial will inspire you or at the very least fill that gap on the Internet for those that want to make a stylish sweatshirt for your child too.

I must admit those German designers know how to design some stylish clothing for our kids!

Heres some inspiration I found on the internet using the Freya+Kroodie pattern (click on the photo to be taken to the website with more info not in english though)

Stubbielau's beautifully made Freya+Hoodie in size 122cm
Nadelzaubers gorgeous girls variation of the Freya+Kroodie

You'll find plenty more inspiration at Finnleys Gallery page
What the Freya vest looks like without the Kroodie sleeves 

Printing out the Downloaded Pattern

Now its time to start testing the pattern after much fiddling about working out what it is I had and printing out the pattern pieces then sellotaping together it was time to find my sweatshirting and prepare to cut out.  The german language tutorial that comes with the Freya pattern (which is the main one you'll need to make the vest without the sleeves (the standard Freya design)) has a handy chapter printout list on page 5 but unless you're quite good with German you will still need to work out which pages to printout and keep together.  Unfortunately the pages aren't numbered and there doesn't appear to be a legend to help you work out which pattern pieces go with which when sellotaping them together.  So I will try and help you below.  In saying that though page 7 does have a picture with a sort of list to help you work out what to cut and how many pieces.  Again its in German.  But you can sort of work it out.
I am going to be sewing a Freya+Kroodie sweatshirt for my boy so I will be grading the Kroodie plain sleeve pattern (with the ribbed cuff) to a size 140cm to match the Freya vest size 140cm from the other downloaded pattern.  
So going by the cutting list on page 7 and the printing list on page 5, I chose to printout pages 13-24 of the Schnittmuster (Pattern) and pages 37-40 - I am hoping all those pieces will be what I need to make the vest at least! 
I will endeavour to take photos of my piecing the pieces together and showing you the cutting out of the pattern so you too can make sense of it all when the time comes to make your own.

Stay tuned for PART TWO - CUTTING OUT

Vivien





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