Sandshrew Hoodie

I’m sick and stressing over finals, and life in general is just going terribly, so I thought I’d take a break to do this post. These Gijinka Pokemon pictures have been going around for a while, so I’m pretty sure that a lot of people are familiar with this Sandshrew:

sandshrew gijinka

I am seriously in love with this hoodie, and so over spring break I really want to make one! Either that, or a Girafarig hoodie. Or maybe, I could make both!

BTW, you can find these images and more from the original artist’s site! There are so many amazing pictures, and so many costume ideas that I’d love to try.

So anyways, with that purpose established, this will be something like a project planning resource post! I lost my notes that I made for this last month, so hopefully this will help me to keep organized and motivated.  And who knows, maybe someone else trying to make one will find this useful as well! Please do let me know if you have any other links/advice that might be helpful!

OTHER POKEMON HOODIE PROJECTS

Keiosu@cosplay.com: {X} {X}: “I made my jacket I used canvas for the majority of it and fleece for the stomach area and hood lining. Although it frayed a bit, the canvas was easy to work with and it’s surprisingly comfy. I painted the canvas area with brown fabric paint and it worked fine.”

invader-gir@deviantart.com/Studio Kitsuuses fleece material, has plush tail (see comments).

stillvisions@cosplay.com: -looks quilted, lots of work, careful for fabric puckering.

shoriameshiko@deviantart.com:-raglan sleeves. “The tail is held up by very sturdy interfacing, so it may not always be perky all the time, but it is more natural and comfortable to wear than a wire inside the garment.  face is appliqued carefully with a freehand satin stitch with embroidery thread. The emblem is made from flannel for extra softness that is sorely lacking from other manufactured products with felt features.”

kuchikixrukia@deviantart.com

MISC. TIPS AND ADVICE

DESIGN: quilting OR painting the lines – cut out all the pattern pieces for the hoodie, so you can see which way the rectangles need to go, then tape off lines with masking tape (measuring it all out and marking with washable pencil to get them perfectly straight), and paint the lines with textile paints, then once dry, sew the cut pieces together normally like the pattern says.

MATERIAL:  sweatshirt or cotton jersey fabric would work well, just nothing napped, like fuzzy fleece, it doesn’t take paint well. – fleece/flannel. canvas?
amounts: 2+ yards of main fabric, .5 yard lining (for hood), 20″ or longer separating zipper, .5 yard rib knit fabric

HAND COVER (?): two semicircle pieces that fit over my hands of course. I sewed those together and turned it inside out. Then I could pin it to the end of the sleeve, right sides together. I only sewed the top half, where the top of my hand would be when in the mitt. Iron the seam where you sewed and make sure to iron down the seam allowances for the rest of the sleeve and the mitt. If you hem those seam allowances and get them sewn down you’ll have finished edges around the opening for your hand to pop out

TAIL (?): For the tail, I just did a simple flat tail with very heavy interfacing to keep it standing up. For the flame, I took a circle of yellow fleece and sewed a strip of orange around it, and then a strip of red around that, then cut it into a flame shape and sewed 2 of those together — I stuffed it a bit too.

LINING (?): warmer, but too complicated? Will line the hood with the contrasting lighter color fabric.

RAGLAN SLEEVES: drafting pattern instructions, pattern maker examples

GENERAL HOODIE TUTORIALS

gnacissej@craftster.org – trace pattern from existing hoodie

Mezzi@craftster.org with reconstructed t-shirt

Kaiser Scissorhands@craftser.org general, note use of bias strips

http://community.livejournal.com/craftgrrl/10909654.html – random tips in comments

I’d go with Darkrai personally, only because I’ve seen several gijinka Sandshrews already. If you still want to do the Shrew though, I’d recommend painting the lines on instead of quilting, unless you don’t mind sewing tons of little squares together.What I would do is cut out all the pattern pieces for the hoodie, so you can see which way the rectangles need to go, then tape off lines with masking tape (measuring it all out and marking with washable pencil to get them perfectly straight), and paint the lines with textile paints, then once dry, sew the cut pieces together normally like the pattern says. As for fabrics, sweatshirt or cotton jersey fabric would work well, just nothing napped, like fuzzy fleece, it doesn’t take paint well.

11 Comments »

  1. Kitsu said

    Hey there,

    Just wanted to toss an correction up there. I am Invader-Gir on deviantart and I own studiokitsu.net. I just haven’t connected the 2 since studiokitsu.net isn’t quite as polished as I would like.

    Regardless thank you for the nod and as far as the Sandshrew tail goes, its not actually that awkward. When I go to sit down I can flip the tail up and have instant lumbar support if I want.

    • eikosi said

      Hey! Okay, I’ll take note about that. The stuff you have posted is really awesome! I really do like your Sandshrew hoodie, but just thought it would be less comfortable to have a stuffed tail on the back. Seems like it turned out well though!

      • Kitsu said

        Thanks, and actually, if you use upholstery foam instead of your typical polyfil stuffing you should actually be able to sit on it. Its just a matter of cutting the same pieces used for the fabric out of half inch or full inch foam and hot glue together to make a hollow filler that will collapse if you sit on it. It should pop back up when you stand back up.

        Good luck on the construction try to not get too frustrated with the lines and whatnot, they’re worth taking the time and effort to put together.

    • eikosi said

      Thanks for the advice! Seems like you have a good solution for the tail.
      Hopefully my hoodie will come out well too. 😀

  2. Henry said

    How’s the hoodie looking?

    • eikosi said

      ahhh, I haven’t been able to find sweatshirt fleece in the colors that I want yet, so going to go to a fabric store in SF today. I tried drafting the pattern and then made 2 practice hoodies with this random cotton print that I bought on sale, so once I get the material, hopefully sewing will go smoothly!

      • Henry said

        i wanna see the random two you made 😀 (or can i haz one since its practice? xD)

    • eikosi said

      oh hahahaha, im gonna make a post later with the random hoodie, so yea. XD pictures to come.
      and LOL, I dont think you would want one. hahaha, came out with too many problems, and not stretch fabric, so hahaha. its very small, even on me. ><

      • Henry said

        lol. im going to ask you about your stitching although if anything i wont be taking this on until summer xD

      • eikosi said

        hahaha, hopefully i’ll be able to finish before break, otherwise i’ll be doing it summer too. cuz aha, just got the fabric yesterday, and still trying to fix the sleeves before i sew with the actual materials. 😀
        oh oh and im gonna do girafarig instead now, b/c they didnt have the colors for a sandshrew one….

  3. […] April 16, 2010 at 2:16 AM · Filed under project planning, sewing hehe, late update, as usual… but I finally sewed up the hood lining, so have completed the base for the hoodie! […]

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