I immediately fell madly in love with Hannah as soon as I saw the pattern. I've been seeing these quarter zip hoodies all over boutique ads and Pinterest but there was no way I was going to be able to hack that. I love a good placket, but to make it a zipper placket just seemed mind boggling. Then along comes Miss Sonia and BOOM! All of my winter pullover dreams came true. So as I'm mentally planning my pile of Hannahs I think "Oh my gosh! I have some leopard print quilted fabric that NEEDS to be used." Then I start digging through my stash and realized that I only have one yard. Sadness ensued. As I was drowning my sorrows, most likely in a pint of Ben & Jerry's, I perused Pinterest and found a color blocked quarter zip! Happiness came back into my life and I've been obsessed with the idea ever since! Just in case it ended up being terrible, I saved the leopard for my second color blocked Hannah.
Create a new front bodice piece
Find the waist and draw a line 1/4" belowI started by tracing over my front bodice piece to create a new pattern piece for the color block. I wanted the block to be at the waist, so I found the waist line and traced 1/4 inch below that. Then I did the same with the back top piece, as well as the front and back bottom pieces. Hint: With the exception of the armscye, they're the same, so you only have to trace one and it lines up with both the front and back! I added lines on my pattern piece for the zipper lengths I'll most likely use. Note: It's easiest to do this after you've printed the whole original pattern and graded as needed. Then you can just trace the adjusted piece instead of adjusting your new pattern pieces.
I decided to also color block my sleeves, just to be extra. To do this, I lined up the beginning of each side of the sleeve with the front and back armscye of the front and back bodices. I traced my pattern down to where the color block was for the bodice pieces, so my sleeves would line up at the same place. I added 1/4" to this also, for the seam allowance. Do this for your bottom sleeve piece as well.
On the left is the front bodice piece, on the right is the back bodice piece.
Now it's time to cut out all of your fabrics! I like to separate my pattern pieces to help remember which ones will go with either fabric. If I didn't, I'd probably end up with different colored sleeves or something.
The final step before assembling the pattern is to sew all of the pieces together so you have the following pieces: a full front bodice, full back bodice, and two full sleeves. Now you can assemble the pattern as directed! I am loving this combo and can't wait to make more color blocked Hannahs!
