When my husband asked me to sew him a sweatshirt for his wardrobe, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to test the casual style pattern from the men's pattern brand Les Beaux Gosses. 

I had already made with this brand the irresistible bomber jacket and the gentleman coat with great pleasure and success for these pieces (my husband's friends ask me for their version... which I will sew when my day has 36 hours 😂... anyway)... so why not make and test the sweatshirt from this brand? It must be said that the patterns from Les Beaux Gosses are designed by men for men and always with a touch of elegance and originality. Olivier and David (former contestants of the show Cousu main) offer us great trendy models... so off we went... I took the pattern from the shop, and I got to work to fulfill my partner's wish...

The pattern

The casual style is a sweatshirt, a wardrobe essential for men. It must be said that the sweatshirt is quite a versatile garment, whether you are sporty, comfort-loving, or sensitive to cold... the sweatshirt is a safe bet (especially in the flat country that is mine where temperatures are not always mild). 

The casual style is offered in two versions:

• Version "A" is a fitted crew neck sweater.  
• Version "B" is a hoodie with a front pocket, ideal for a trendy and urban style.
• A zipped version is also available. 

The pattern is offered from size S to XXL, which corresponds in order to: neck circumference, chest circumference, waist circumference, and hip circumference: 

S: 38 - 95 - 84 - 98

M: 40 - 102 - 90 - 104

L: 42 - 107 - 95 - 109

XL: 44 - 112 - 100 - 114

XXL: 46 - 117 - 105 - 120

The casual sweatshirt also exists in a junior version for children aged 6 to 14 years. 

Both patterns are available in the shop. 

Material choices

To sew a sweatshirt (any pattern, by the way), you need to choose a knit fabric, that is, a stretchy knitted fabric (otherwise it won’t be possible to pull it over your head or get your sleeves on).

Ideally, a fairly thick jersey knit is recommended for a soft feel. It is also possible to use a French terry, a brushed/fleece sweatshirt... or you can play with materials by using terry cloth, stretch velvet, fleece, minky... 

The only requirement is that the chosen fabric must have at least 30% stretch across the grain (perpendicular to the warp). A 10 cm sample must be able to stretch beyond 13 cm, which is the case for all the knits in the shop. 

For my version, I chose a French terry with a rather masculine pattern from the brand Bloome Copenhagen. This organic knit is of superb quality and since we were reaching the end of the shop's roll... I couldn't resist cutting a piece for him. I also chose to make the neckline in black ribbing to match the pattern. 

In the seamstress's or tailor's basket

To sew a men's sweatshirt, you will need: 

• 1.70 m of fabric with a width of 140 cm (or 2.20 m with a width of 110 cm)
• matching thread

For the hoodie version, you will need to add:

• 10 cm of medium-weight fusible interfacing
• 2 eyelets
• 1.40 m of drawstring 

For both versions, don’t forget to adapt your needles for sewing stretch fabrics: a special jersey sewing machine needle (or you can use the overlocker directly) and a twin needle (or a coverstitch machine to make hems)

Don’t forget to consider pattern matching if your fabric has prints, to achieve some symmetry.

It is also possible to replace the neckline band with ribbing (that’s what I did in my version). 

The technical steps

For the sweatshirt version, the technical steps are quite simple to do. They are:

• assembling the body starting with the shoulders, sleeves, and sides. 
• installing the neckline
• the sleeve hems and the bottom hem of the garment

For the hoodie version, other technical steps are added such as:

• installing the eyelets
• inserting the drawstring
• installing the hood

Finally, for the jacket version, you will still need to add the technical step of installing the zipper. 

Sewing experience

As usual, I assembled the sweatshirt completely on the overlocker, including the neckline band. 

To do this, I overlocked all the assembly seams with 4 threads. 

I had made an article with the tutorial of the different assembly steps, you can find it on the blog or by clicking here. 

For the hems, I went to get my coverstitch machine from the cupboard 😊. Since I got one, I do all my hems on knits with it. I find the result so beautiful both on the front and the back. If you don’t have a coverstitch machine, a twin needle will be your ally to make beautiful hems on the sewing machine. 

Here, my darling received the sweatshirt he wanted and I am happy with the result. The sweatshirt fits well as he wished. 

Get your needles ready!