Water Resistant Hood

Many years ago I made myself a vest with lots of pockets ¹ in a few layers of cheap cotton, and wore the hell out of it, for the added warmth, but most importantly for the convenience provided by the pockets.

Then a few years ago the cheap cotton had started to get worn, and I decided I needed to replace it. I found a second choice (and thus cheaper :) ) version of a water-repellent cotton and made another vest, lined with regular cotton, for a total of just two layers.

This time I skipped a few pockets that I had found I didn’t use that much, and I didn’t add a hood, which didn’t play that well when worn over a hoodie, but I added some detached sleeves, for additional wind protection.

This left about 60 cm and some odd pieces of leftover fabric in my stash, for which I had no plan.

And then February² came, and I needed a quick simple mindless handsewing projects for the first weekend, I saw the vest (which I’m wearing as much as the old one), the sleeves (which have been used much less, but I’d like to change this) and thought about making a matching hood for it, using my square hood pattern.

Since the etaproof is a bit stiff and not that nice to the touch I decide to line³ it with the same cotton as the vest and sleeves, and in the style of the pattern I did so by finishing each panel with its own lining (with regular cotton thread) and then whipstitching the panels together with the corespun cotton/poly thread recommended by the seller of the fabric. I’m not sure this is the best way to construct something that is supposed to resist the rain, but if I notice issues I can always add some sealing tape afterwards.

I do have a waterproof cape to wear in case of real rain, so this is only supposed to work for light rain anyway, and it may prove not to be an issue.

As something designed to be worn in light rain, this is also something likely to be worn in low light conditions, where 100% black may not be the wisest look. On the vest I had added reflective piping to the armscyes, but I was out of the same piping.

I did however have a spool of reflector thread made of glass fibre by Rico Design, which I think was originally sold to be worked into knitting or crochet projects (it is now discontinued) and I had never used.

I decided to try and sew a decorative blanket stitch border, a decision I had reasons to regret, since the thread broke and tangled like crazy, but in the end it was done, I like how it looks, and it seems pretty functional. I hope it won’t break with time and use, and if it does I’ll either fix it or try to redo with something else.

Of course, the day I finished sewing the reflective border it stopped raining, so I haven’t worn it yet, but I hope I’ll be able to, and if it is an horrible failure I’ll make sure to update this post.