I’ll let you in on a little secret – I’m a girl that likes fossils. If I didn’t train to be an accountant... I’d have been an archaeologist. Well, probably. But I’m serious about those fossils. Many happy hours of my life have been spent under the Seven Sisters cliff in Seaford, and along the Jurassic Coast in Dorset looking for those rocks that show us what life would’ve been like millions of years ago. And when I heard that toddlers make the best assistants at fossil hunting due to their perfect eye sight and their perspective closer to the ground? I knew it was time to start a family. OK, I am definitely joking about this part!

But I’m sure you’ll understand my excitement when I saw this fossil French Terry, and it was a bonus that it was organic, too! I snapped up 1.6m, and managed to squeeze out a pair of matching hoodies for me and my little fossil hunting assistant.

I absolutely love this fabric, it was perfect for my needs, and I was pleasantly surprised by how cosy it is.

Onto the project. Although I have made sweatshirts before, this is my first time making a proper hoodie, you know, with a hood and everything. I used the Stella pattern by Tilly and the Buttons, leaving out the kangaroo pocket and the drawstring. The only change I made was to shorten the length of the bodice and sleeves slightly.

All the claims were true – an easy-fitting garment, with contemporary drop shoulders. I love it!

In addition to the amazing fossil fabric, I used some grey jersey in my stash for the hood lining, and some old green ribbing for the cuffs. I wish I had enough of the ribbing to line the hood and add to Freya’s little sweatshirt, but the miss match had its own charm.

Isn’t the view beautiful? You are looking at the mole valley from the top of Box Hill, one of the best views in Surrey, according to Jane Austin. Who am I to argue?

Since I had a small amount of fabric left after making my own hoodie (my original plan), I decided to make Freya’s a little matching sweatshirt, too. I used the Hot Chocolate pattern by MBJM, but didn’t add the hood for her as there wasn’t quite enough fabric for that. I also used the old pink ribbing from my stash, which worked with the fabric well, and with hindsight, is a nice contrast to the green trim on my hoodie.

The tricky thing with Freya’s sweatshirt was sizing. I always knew that she was a little chubster, but upon measuring her waist and chest came out as age 4-5 for this pattern, although she was just shy of 13 months old at the time of making this! Once I had finished laughing, I went for age 2-3 as a compromise, as it is a loose-fitting garment. It’s come out a bit big, but longevity is quite important for home-sewn baby clothes to me, so I’m good with rolling back the sleeves for a little while. It might just last long enough so that we can go fossil hunting together in these!

The fabric is so beautifully soft that I didn’t want to take off the hoodie to take this flat lay picture!

There you have it, matching outfits for mummy and Freya. I have added the obligatory DIY size label onto Freya’s top, so that we know 1) which way is the back and 2) what age it is (follow the link for my tutorial if you wanted to make your own – it is super easy!)

Thanks for reading.

Alice from Queen of Darts

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