How to Sew a Hood

You can use this method for making a hooded shirt from scratch or for reconstructing an existing shirt.

If you are making your own pattern on the fly, I’d suggest finding a hoodie and tracing the hood, making sure to add a seam allowance. You may need to alter the hood to fit the top you want to sew it to- just remember that the bottom edge of the hood should be the same length as the measurement around the neck hole.

Zip up hoodie by SmarmyClothes.com

Difficulty:

01easy

Step 1

Your hood pieces should be sewn together before you start, and the edges finished. You can hem the edge or trim it with contrasting fabric or lace.

You can also line your hood. Cut two pieces of lining fabric the same shape as your hood. Sew the lining together. Then sew the lining to the hood, right sides together. Don’t sew the “neckline” edge of the hood and lining together. Leave that edge open so you can turn the pieces right side out, and then baste along the neckline before sewing the hood to your shirt.hood

 

Your two pieces here are 1. the hood and 2. the nearly finished top. mark the center of the bottom of the hood (green dot). Mark the back center of the neckhole of the top (green dot).

The front edges of the neckhole of the top have been marked with yellow and pink dots and the corresponding spots on the hood are marked as well.


hoo1
Step 1


Step 2

Match these points up. The hood should be folded around the shirt, with the outside of the hood facing the outside of the shirt.



hoo2
Step 2


Step 3

Start sewing at one end of the neckhole, and sew until you’ve reached the other side.


hoo3
Step 3


You’re done! This is what it looks like with the top opened up.


hoo5
Done!


This tutorial was for a hoodie with a zip front, but the process of attaching a hood to a top without a zip is pretty much the same. Just overlap the two edges of the hood a little to get continous coverage all the way around the neck.


hoo6
Finished hoodie, hurray!


35 thoughts on “How to Sew a Hood

  1. I was wondering if you had any suggestions on how I could adapt a pattern I have. I am making a henley shirt and want to add a hood to it. If it helps its this pattern here : http://www.jalie.com/women-s-t-shirts.html I’m going to do look “d” but don’t really know what the best way would be to add the hood on. Any suggestions? BTW, I used your tutorial twice today to add a hood onto a couple of my daughters shirts! Awesome job! šŸ™‚

    1. Hi Nonda! I would make the shirt as is, but skip finishing the neckline. Sew the button placket portion, but leave the rest of the neckline unfinished and then add the hood instead of the contrast trim.

  2. hi lex,

    my name is laura and i just want to tell you that i think you are super cool…really! thanks for all the incredibly helpful tutorials you’ve made. i haven’t been sewing for very long and i can use all the help i can get! well, thanks again and keep making those tutorials…you’re cool!

  3. I’ve been trying to replicate the hood on arrow, it’s kinda a crude design but i really like it; any advice for a upper-torso/hood attachment?

  4. Thanks for your quick tutorial. I’m making a ghost costume for my two boys and needed a visual and some guidance about the hood part. I appreciate you taking the time to make this available.

  5. thank you !
    I like have pictures to look at
    I am adding a hood to an over sized t shirt
    that I am turning into a light jacket

  6. Hey this is a great hood idea! I am trying to make a Totoro hoodie where the hood pulls over my face like a mask, but not tight like most mask hoodies you can buy in stores. Any suggestions?

    1. I would put the hood on and do some measuring: how wide does it need to be to reach from one side of the hood to the other, and how long does it need to be to cover your face (depending on what you’re going for).
      Use those measurements to cut a half circle (or half oval might work better) of scrap fabric that you can then pin to the hood to test out.
      Then you can work on figuring out where you need the eye holes, etc. Use the scrap fabric as a pattern for the real fabric.

  7. Hey there nice tut I wanna make a hoody like the assassins creed ones… Like when I walk in the sun my eyes are in the shadow… Any suggestions???

  8. thank you for this pattern.
    I am making A hood for my LARP costume (live action role play)
    and it works great!
    THanks
    ~chubb

  9. Hello, thanks for the tutorial, really helpful šŸ™‚ is there any way to attach the hood to the top without a sewing machine? thanks

  10. Hey, love the tutorial. I was just wondering how much fabric did you use to construct the hood? Thanks!

    1. A piece of fabric 18″ long by 25″ wide should be enough for most hoods. In other words, a half yard of most knit fabrics would be enough for two hoods or 1 hood if you lined it with the same fabric.
      You might be able to squeeze 2 hoods out of a half yard of 44″ fabric (the width of most wovens).

  11. I downloaded where it said to click. I clicked on several “how to make a hood” sites. I got nothing! I need a pattern ready to print not to re size and measure out. Where do I go in simple terms?

    1. I’m not sure what you downloaded, as there is no download on this tutorial- it’s just a simple text/picture tutorial. I don’t currently have a pattern for a hood available.

  12. Need help and advice. My husband had a cloak custom made for me as a gift. I have not worn it much as it seemed to pull to one side and the hood is small for a floor length cloak IMO. I decided to go ahead and remove the hood to see if I could somehow make it drape along my shoulders and hang about half way down my back. After removing the hood and trying my best to place it where I wanted, I noticed the left side has more fabric than the right!
    Please help me in figuring out how to basically remake this wonderful cloak! I am also unable to match the fabric as it is made from Camel’s hair!!

    1. If the hood is too small, then there’s not a whole lot you can do other than start over. Since you can’t match the fabric, I’d go with a contrasting fabric. If you make the hood longer by adding 3-4″ along the bottom edge, you’ll get more drape.

  13. Thank you.
    I have plans to redo my kids long sleeve t shirts into a hoodie jacket.
    Your post/tutorial is simple enough for me to attempt this task.

    And I like your disclaimer(sort of like a Creative Commons License) and sharing of free patterns.

  14. Hey!

    I am Lhei and my family are going on a vacation next month. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough pocket money to buy a jacket with a hood, soo.. I made it from my old t-shirt. Thank you very much for this, it helped me a lot and my mom is quite happy that I made it myself.
    Keep it up and thanks!!

  15. Hello,
    I would like to add a mesh hood to a Trench coat. Its for an apocalyptic outfit. Any advice on how to do this? I’m new to the sewing world.

    1. Are you keeping the collar of the trench coat? If you keep the collar, I would hand or machine sew the hoodie to the inside of the collar, at the collar seam.

  16. I’m making my kiddos Hogwarts robes before our visit to Harry Potter at Universal Studios. Thanks for this easy to follow tutorial. I think even I can do this!!

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