Hunger Games: The Katniss Cowl

Ah, the Hunger Games. A great movie series, although not quite original (check out Kinji Fukasaku’s film Battle Royale for some REAL fun… and over-exaggerated Japanese acting). So what’s better than seeing children and teenagers fight each other to the death? Sewing, perhaps?

Once people saw Katniss’ different, funky, yet super-cute weird cowl half-sweater thing during the second movie, Catching Fire, the creative among us have made knitting patterns to mimic the design. Problem is, not many of us know how to knit or have the patience for it. That’s where Kate from See Kate Sew comes in with her genius idea to make a Katniss Cowl sewing pattern for us non-knitters. And shall I mention that it’s completely FREE?! Oh, Kate, you spoil us.

Left: original from Catching Fire — Right: Kate with her sewing design

Kate’s instructions have you find an extremely over-sized sweater at a thrift shop and cut your pattern from there. I’m a rebel and bought a hacci sweater knit from GirlCharlee.com instead.

Link here

I know the fabric I chose isn’t a match in color from the original, but as I said, I’m a rebel. It’s a super quick and satisfying make… only taking me a morning to complete.

The pattern is only 2 pieces and is a one-size-fits-all kind of deal. I would recommend printing the pattern twice as Kate went “green” and overlapped the pattern pieces over each other in the PDF pattern. I was an idiot and didn’t realize they were overlapping, so I had to go back and Frankenstein the cowl pattern piece back together.

As far as photographing the final project goes, I was all for going in the wash next to our house for an “outdoors-y” feel, like the photos for my Daenerys costume. DD had a better idea and suggested we go behind our neighborhood, following the wash, and photograph there. I was skeptical at first but I’ve gotta say this is my favorite photo shoot yet. DD, you’re a genius!

Tucson really does have that “wasteland” feel, huh? I’m standing next to what used to be a car, searching for my prey…

I’m not too good at hiding and probably would be the first to die in the Hunger Games if it were real…

I love how the cowl came out. It’s very different but not too weird to wear out and about. DD thinks it’s kind of strange, but then again he says he doesn’t understand fashion. 🙂 I love how drapey the fabric is and it was very easy to sew together. I used a combination of Freya (my serger) and Odin (sewing machine) to complete this.

It’s fun and funky and I love how it keeps an armpit free to breathe, LOL. Not to mention, you can wear it backwards or forwards, depending which side you want it to drape from.

I strayed from the instructions by:

1. Using twill tape on the shoulder seams so they won’t stretch out over time

2. Under-stitching the cowl piece so the neck seam won’t be flopping everywhere

3. Not hemming each piece separately, then attaching front to back. I attached front to back first, then hemmed because I like the look of a full-circle hem best, plus I won’t be worried my serger ends will get loose and be flopping everywhere.

Here’s a peek at the hem. I serged the edge and used Odin to stitch it down after pressing in place. I’m in love with the wrong side of this fabric. I’m going to bust out a tank top using the wrong side as the right side as soon as Freya is feeling up to it. Two weeks ago, I stupidly broke the lower looper and bent a needle… don’t ask me how, just know that I’m an idiot. 😦 The replacement piece is coming, though!

Should we sound a cannon for the death of my poor lower looper? *Ka-pow, Lower Looper from District Sew RED-y* Rest in pieces.

Anyhoo, I’m happy with how this came out and love how it’s a secret cosplay piece. If it wasn’t considered weird, I would love to wear costumes almost every day. But alas, I’ll just have to keep it on the down-low and save the more extravagant costumes for Halloween and Renaissance Festival.

I’ll leave you with an image that puts my Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts to shame. I cannot find my oooold disc of Photoshop CS2, so you’ll have to bear with my awesome MS Paint skillz.

May the odds be ever in your favor!

-RED