Hoodie alterations to start the new year

Yes, it's a new year. Happy - well, that is debatable, but I am not going to go into it. I decided I wanted to get this pullover hoodie that they gave me at work to be a zip up and this is how I did it.

I removed the hoodie, marked the center of the front, sewed a line of stitching about 1/4" on each side of the line to keep the layers together at the pocket and ribbing, then marked hash lines so that it was easier to make sure I keep the two halves lined up when I install the zipper.

Time to cut on the line. I used a Crayola washable marker that will disappear once I wash it.

I measured the width of the zipper and pressed back half that width on each side of the front.

The zipper was a bit long.

I saw a video on Wawak's site on how to remove the teeth on a plastic zipper. I zigzaged at the top of each side to make a stop, but I am going to have to get some metal stops as the thread stops are not going to suffice. How do I know that? Well, after I fixed the zipper I closed it and I couldn't get it opened again!  Yikes! I ended up having to use a couple pilers to pull on the slide to get it off the thread stops. I was breathing a sigh of relief when I got it unstuck!

zipper installed!

Next, I had to take in the hood since the neck hole is smaller with the fabric I folded back for the zipper. It was a surprised to me that the seam at the back of the hood was all four layers sewn together.

Hood reattached!

I checked on the sleeves and they were a bit too long. Here I have another hoodies I wear all the time layed on top so you can see how much I need to shorten them by.

Once this first sleeve was fixed, I decided it would be a good idea to check the altered sleeve to the one that still needed shorten to make sure the sleeves were the same length.  They weren't.   The one that still needed shortened was a bit longer to begin with. Good thing I checked!

All fixed except for the zipper stops! I am glad to have this done and it only took a couple hours. I feel like it is good to get one thing pretty much done to start the year!

The rest of the day I will work on quilting the t-shirt quilt for my neighbor.