Wolf Sweatshirt

The design for this sweatshirt came to me in a burst of inspiration at 2am. I had just gotten back from a night out with friends and for whatever reason the last thought in my head before falling asleep was "I've got to make a big fuzzy wolf hoodie tomorrow."

A major part of the inspiration was the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. In the books she introduces a pack of werewolves, one of which is a russet-colored one named Jacob who interacts with the main character Bella. Among other things, werewolves are different from humans in that they have might higher body temperatures. Jacob is once referred to as Bella's own personal space heater. With that thought it mind I wanted to make a lined sweatshirt resembling a wolf.

The sweatshirt was purchased from Goodwill for $9.99, and the fabric and replacement zipper (original was broken) cost around $10. It's a nice heavy-duty Dickies brand sweatshirt that is lined with a beige fuzzy fleece.

The whole process took about 6-8 hours (conservative estimate) from start to finish. First I removed the old zipper and replaced it with the new one. Then I made the ears which consist of fuzzy felt and have bendable copper wire for support. Next came the first version of the tail, which hung down from the back and also had bendable wire. However I really didn't like how it looked, so I removed that and sewed the current tail onto the back. The paws came to be as sort of a happy accident because the sleeves were just a bit too short. I decided to add extensions with the fuzzy felt, and then in a burst of inspiration made paw pads out of black vinyl. Most of the work was done on our sewing machine, but part of the ears and all of the paw pads were done by hand.

I am so in love with how this turned out, I can't wait to wear it out. It's really comfortable, warm, and durable.