Harry Potter Ravenclaw Robe Hoodie

Accio your own Harry Potter Robe Hoodie for whatever Hogwarts House the Sorting Hat has deemed you to belong. This one is for those destined to Ravenclaw with its blue lined dark vestment and distinctive crest.

This project is an Xmas gift to my niece who is a Harry Potter fan. I already gave her my motorized Golden Snitch. Earlier in the year, when we went to visit, she made Caitlin her own Harry Potter magic wand which is shown in the pics, no doubt learning how to make one here on ibles. So a lot of crafting magic can be found on this site, who knew? Take an ordinary black hoodie and make it awesome.

Note: This ible shows some more than basic sewing techniques but nothing extraordinary. I have a sewing machine and a serger which does the work of hand sewing. You could do this all by hand if you had the time but some hand sewing is necessary here. Since this is my first time creating and modding this kind of garment, this is the prototype. Kids, bug your folks or people who know how to sew to help you make this. Learn to sew, it's fun-damental.

Step 1: Magic Ingredients...

You can transform any hoodie into a Harry Potter robe hoodie. I didn't find any hoodies with the right color combo and inside hood/face lining so I knew I had to make it myself.

It can be any color but dark colors like black or navy blue would be a good choice to look like a magic robe.

You need to get about a 1/2 to 1 yard of fabric in your house colors to line the hood and the front jacket opening.

I found this blue microfiber like stretch material that would be good for a sport lining.

I had ordered online the Ravenclaw crest patch.

You will also need two large buttons for the robe buttons and some scrap stretch material or elastic cord to make the closure.

You need to conjure up some sewing skills, a sewing machine is preferred, a serger, even better.

And a needle and thread for the finishing touches.

To start, turn the hoodie inside out, flatten and lay out so we can measure off of it and use it as a pattern.

The lining material should be doubled over and be enough to go the length of the hood and jacket part. The thought is to get one continuous piece as the lining from the top of the hood to the bottom of the hoodie. You could piece together fabric but any seams would not look good.

Step 2: Blue Suede Hoodie...

Cut the top of the fabric to match the shape of the hood.

You can sew or serge the seam to close off the hood top. I also serged the entire edge all around so that the material would be easier to work with. The serger makes trimmed clean straight edges with no unravelling.

It will fit inside the existing hood so you can actually make it a bit smaller so that excess fabric will not bunch up when placed in the hoodie.

Since my lining had a microfiber nap on one side, I had to work things so that it would turn out to be my finished side.

I attached the the hood lining to the hoodie by sewing along the very edge of the hoodie with the two finished sides facing together. The whole assembly will be flipped inside out when finished. Be sure to feel around and push the drawstring cord aside so that you only sew the outer edge of the drawstring tunnel. And make sure you go around the drawstring opening metal grommets or you will mess up your sewing machine needle.

Continue sewing the lining fabric along where the zipper is attached to the hoodie.

Step 3: Distinguish It...

You should now have a bullet shaped piece of fabric covering the hoodie opening.

Cut the fabric covering in the middle up till near the label fixed to the upper back.

You now have something of a horseshoe shaped fabric piece. I think a professional seamstress or tailor would have figured out how to cut these pieces to fit the yoke and fronts of the hoodie.

I trimmed that piece after fitting the lining piece to the hoodie to allow the arms to get into the sleeves and not bind on the shoulders when the hoodie is worn.

Serge all around the new sized opening and bind with a simple foldover edge to finish it off.

Hem the bottom of the front lining to fit inside the knit bottom band of the hoodie.

The fabric lining will be spot tacked to keep it in place later since the back edge iis all floppy and such.

You can purchase from many places online for a patch of the Hogwarts House crest that you like. They have them for Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.

This hoodie had the manufacturer's logo on the upper chest pocket location. I used the patch to cover it up.

Position the patch and sew or iron on as necessary.

Step 4: Accessorize and Button It Up...

No functional Harry Potter hoodie should be without a functional magic wand holder.

Make a pocket about three-quarters the length of your magic wand.

You can just apply that as a patch pocket to the inside lining or sew it in fancy as an inset pocket.

Cut a slit for the opening and sew the top edges to the opening. Bind on the reverse side so the pocket inside will have a finished look. Reinforce on the sides of the opening with a bar tack stitch.

We now need to make the robe buttons.

You can buy large covered coat buttons but I had these two buttons which will be covered with black cloth to match.

Cut out a cloth circle a bit bigger than your button.

Just hand sew and gather up the opposing sides and edges to the center.

Position and sew to your hoodie.

From the same knit stretch material, I made a loop closure that fit over the button. It is sewn on the backside of the hoodie where the other front button is.

Now that all of main sewing is done, see where the lining falls on the seams of the hoodie. You can spot tack the lining so it is held in place and does not get caught up in the person wearing the hoodie. The sewing on the outside is less noticeable on a seam. I spot tacked the hood lining part near the manufacturer's label and the front lining was spot tacked on the hoodie side seams.

And there you go, now wear it cape-like as a robe by using the top button closure or just as a regular zip-up hoodie for your day to day wizard-in-training tasks.