There’s something you should know about my husband: He loves the Fantastic Four! I mean, LOVES the Fantastic Four!
There are FF prints in our staircase, in our hallway, in our living room, AND in our bedroom! On top of that, his comic book room is awash with FF blue, posters, figures, and of course, original comics from 1961 onwards!
Why the Fantastic Four? There have been a lot of weak movie versions, so it’s not a popular or well-understood team… but in Jamie’s words,
The FF are about exploration and working to understand the unknown, both in the worlds beyond ours and in the nature of what makes strong relationships. There are adventures into unknown dimensions and mysterious worlds, and relationship ups and downs, but you can always count on the FF to solve the problem as a team.
What makes the book, and specifically the characters, so special in the comics industry is that they are a family as much as they are explorers. Not to get too metaphorical, but it’s a good way to look at life – you’re making a journey into untrod paths, and the importance of having a good partner, or partners, is what makes the adventure rewarding. Which is a long winded way of saying I’m lucky as hell to to have a wife like Gill! It’s like Reed Richards, my favourite character says: “As long as you’re with friends, there’s no limit to the adventure out there!”
So when Jamie asked in December for a royal blue FF hoodie with black bands, I was happy to make his vision come true! (Ok, in truth, the black bands sounded hideous in my head, but he was totally right, and I love the finished product!)
The fabric and ribbing are from L’Oiseau Fabrics, which is quickly becoming my go-to store when I want high-quality knits. (If only they stocked more rayon prints!) The blue is a classic sweatshirt fabric, which had the perfect amount of stretch and stability. The ribbing is a basic black, but they also have some really neat striped options I might try for Jamie sometime!
The star of the show is this massive FF patch that Jamie bought online – in fact, he bought two, so who knows where the second one will end up. The entire hoodie ended up costing about $120, which makes it the most expensive thing I’ve sewn in years… but it’s such a joy to be able to make the perfect unique item that could never be bought in stores!
Jamie’s cat Clay approves! She was our first cat together, but once we adopted Frank he gradually took over the whole house except for the comic room, which became Clay’s lair! Our vet says Clay is “ripped”, with the abs of an outdoor tomcat, so clearly it suits her jumping all over the pathway of shelves that Jamie has arranged for her amusement!
As you’ve probably guessed, the pattern is the FreeSewing Hugo Hoodie. After I tested the pattern for myself, I made Jamie a wearable muslin and a zip-up windproof fleece jacket version before cutting into the precious blue fleece. The zip-up version is in daily rotation as a jacket, but it’s black and pretty much impossible to photograph, so you’ll just have to believe me on that one!
He had a few of the same fit issues and solutions that I had: the hood was absolutely massive, and the armscye was too low. Easy to fix though – I used my size of the hood, and cut it down1″ in height, and I used a french curve to turn the bottom of the sleeve into a curve instead of a straight line. I also made the pocket taller, so that he could have the extra length he likes in the hoodie, but still have the pockets at the right length for his hands!
These are Jamie’s interpretation of my classic blog poses! 😉
I’ve been sewing Jamie hoodie for years from a tracing of RTW, which works fine but doesn’t have the same nice finished details as the Hugo. I love the lined hood, clever pocket, and I think the raglan sleeves make his shoulders and pecs look particularly sexy. I’m so excited to know that the drafted-to-measure patterns at FreeSewing will work for him, and we’ll definitely try more in the future!
What’s that? BOOM! A Fantastic Four tattoo! I showed you my matching one back in the fall. The family that nerds out together stays together, right?
Attack of the pocket monster!
Thank you to Jamie for being a first-time model here on the blog – what a nice way to mark my 6-year blogging anniversary!
What’s the nerdiest thing you’ve ever sewn? Or put another way, what idiosyncratic fashion dreams did you bring to life for yourself or someone else?
Crafting A Rainbow 
He will never take it off!! It’s beautiful love the colors. Another awesome hand sewn!!
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Thank you! I don’t think I’ll ever make him a button up shirt, but I’m happy he likes the knitwear I sew him! 🙂
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Love it! I made my husband a red zippered hoodie (Jalie) for Christmas, maybe I should put a Star Trek (his first love) logo on the back!!!! But then the red shirts always die. Never mind then!
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Hahahaha – Jamie asked for a Trek hoodie too! And he would want a red shirt, and indeed, that is a doomed outfit – unless we promote them to captain? Jamie does had pips and a badge on his denim cutoff vest! What’s your husband’s favourite version of Trek?
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Lol! I just asked and it will take him awhile to respond (he currently has a clay mask on for the first time (perils of having a teenage daughter!) so had to change tracks from complaining about it, lmao!). I bet he will say the original 😉
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“These are Jamie’s interpretation of my classic blog poses!”
Hahahaha … cracked me up!
This is a great, GREAT hoodie, Gillian! Lush blue fleece, cool/nerdie patch, custom sizing … but best of all … a husband who asked for and then loved the result. You rock!
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Honestly, I haven’t been so nervous about a project in a long time, because I really wanted him to love it! Phew – mission accomplished!
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This is so fun. I love how it’s exactly what he envisioned. The nerdiest thing I’ve seen is definitely nerdy Halloween costumes for my partner and I (game of thrones, mad max, pokemon). I have been eyeing all the fun ribbing options on the l’oiseau website. Is the ribbing soft?
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This ribbing is nice! I can’t speak to the striped ribbing yet, but I do feel like L’oiseau only stocks good stuff. Those sound like some awesome hallowe’en costumes!
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Truly fabulous! Jamie looks “over the moon” happy and proud, rockin’ his new hoodie!
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It’s my dream that one day we’ll show up to a family event and everyone will be wearing something I’ve made them! ❤
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It’s PERFECT! That fabric looks amazing.
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Thank you! ❤
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What a beautiful gift to make for your love Gillian! He looks thrilled with it and well he should be – the colour is gorgeous and suits him perfectly. I have a super hero fan at home too – Batman has his heart 🙂 and there is no way I’m making him a Batman cape and that’s that.
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LOL – you meanie! Maybe some Batman pocket bags in a pair of pants, or something subtle like that?
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OMG, I love when he does your blog poses. He got them just right 😉 Awesome sweatshirt!!
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He cracked me up, because he was doing silly poses, and I said, “hey, how about interpreting my classic poses?” and he replied, “That’s what I’ve been doing!” 😛
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Great hoodie! But the real show-stopper here is you two in that last picture! So cute. I’ve got a big grin on my face right now. 😀
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I love that one too! ❤
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What a great story and such a labour of love! The result justifies the costs. It is cheaper paying more and loving the result than paying less and not wearing it. I‘ve got a grin in my face, too.
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That is truly excellent advice that I am going to remember!!!
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It looks great and he’s SO HAPPY! And $120 isn’t overly expensive for a really high end hoodie, really.
The nerdiest thing I’ve made was probably a couple of costumes of Fairy Tail characters for my younger daughter… although the Avengers grad dress for my older daughter was pretty nerdy. So was the Pikachu onesie… hmm, ok, I guess I’ve done my share of nerdy sewing! 😂
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You have DEFINITELY done a lot of nerdy sewing in your time! What would your family do without your skills? Dress normally? Pshaw! That’s no fun!
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On Jamie’s interpretation of your photo poses… that third one is GOLD!!! I absolutely love the sassy face he’s making. You two seem like you have a lot a joy in your relationship! ❤
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We have a lot of fun – it’s so nice to live with a nerd who understands why hobbies are so worth investing time and money into!
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I LOVE this! What a great relationship you have- it warms my heart 🙂
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He’s a keeper!!!! ❤
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Love the classic blog poses as interpreted by your husband! My laugh of the day.
The custom hoodie is wonderful!
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I”m definitely going to have to sew him more so I can see more of his posing! 😉 He’s fierce!
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Ahhh, I love this! Nerdy superhero sewing for the win!
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As he walked out the door the other day, he said, “Thanks for making me a whole outfit!” and in fact, he was wearing underwear I’d made, pants I’d altered, a Dickies shirt that I’d sewn an Aliens patch on that morning, and the fleece jacket I made him this winter. He’s always been an oddball at work (or a maverick, as one principal called him) and I’m getting really excited about helping him construct a unique wardrobe that really reflects his identity. The world of men’s plus clothing is SO limited – it definitely gives me a wee glimpse of what it might be like to be a non-binary person trying to find clothes that reflect the person on the inside!
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My inner geek was really happy that you included Jamie’s thoughts on why he loves FF so much, since the superhero genre is pretty much a movies only thing for me, and the movie version I saw really wasn’t that good. It’s easy to see that he’s thrilled with his new hoodie!
As for nerdiest thing I’ve sewn, you know how I love my secret costumes. 🙂 So real costumes aside, it’s probably either my TARDIS Hummingbird skirt or the knit top I made several years ago that was pretty much a straight up copy of a Lord of the Rings dress. The former still fits, thanks to the stretchy denim, but the latter is living in my refashion bin after the most recent closet purge. It just doesn’t quite fit my chest anymore, but I am determined to salvage those hand embroidered bands around the neckline and empire waist for something! (I really need to make myself some more modern Middle earth clothes again, I miss having those.)
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When we got married, Jamie read his vows out of a Mr. Miracle comic (and I had mine taped in an Anne of Green Gables book). Mr. Miracle is married to a female superhero who is even more badass than him – which again is in someway true of the Fantastic Four, because Sue makes forcefields as well as turning invisible. How could I be anything but flattered by that? I’m glad he isn’t into super macho superhereos, because then he probably wouldn’t be my kind of guy.
I would love to see some more secret costumes from you! I bet they make you feel awesome every time you wear them!
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I’m so torn between my loyalty to you and new found appreciation of your newest model! Jamie is rocking these poses!!!
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🙂 THank you! He has never volunteered to be in front of the camera before, so I’m glad he finally did!
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This is awesome. And one of those amazing poses is BEGGING for some photoshopped flames…..
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If only I had the skills! I’ll just have to teach myself! 😉
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What a vivid blue, and clearly he loves it! And thanks for the link to L’Oiseau–they have teal jeggings fabric–I’m in love! The patch is really cool too–this absolutely looks like RTW all told. Fantastic make Gillian!
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ADORABLE! It fits him great and you can see how much he loves wearing it! The nerdiest thing I’ve sewn was for my boyfriend – a jacket which he describes as “not Han Solo’s jacket, but a jacket from the same store Han Solo shops at”. We both agree Han shops RTW. Han shopped first! Okay, now THAT’S my nerdiest moment. 🙂
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I love this post so much!!! It turned out so great, and your husband looks delighted. (Also, his Gillian poses are spot on.) Not the most nerdiest, but definitely the most customized, was a Colette Negroni with a SF Giants patch on it that I made for my husband. He’s also a comic book fan as shown here where he’s wearing a Captain America tee shirt underneath: http://duckndam.blogspot.com/2015/07/happy-fourth.html
Once he saw your husband’s hoodie, though, he dug out a Dr. Strange patch from his cave and asked if I could make him something similar. 🙂
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