(Originally posted at my main account.)

I wanted to be a Gryffindor for Halloween a few years ago, but couldn't find a pattern for robes that satisfied me (and that I could actually do, because sewing is not my strong point. -_- So I got the idea to do a hoodie that a Gryffindor student might wear.

So I painted the back of a hoodie for the holiday, but afterwards decided to do more. I cut the lion out and sewed in a new shield (you can hopefully tell from the photos that it's a patterened faux ... velour? Velvet? Told you sewing's not my thing.) And then I just kept adding stuff -- the gold piping across one corner of the shield, gold beads in the opposite corner and as trim for the shield, letters at the bottom, and trim everywhere in gold fabric paint. There was a logo on the hood and the left breast, so I painted a sun on the hood (you can still see the star of the log through it, which I think looks cool), and a gold shield on the breast. I had a Hogwarts Crest cloisonne pin, so the shield helped to make that stand out; the pin has been removed and the gold paint there has since been covered with a Hogwarts patch that I got at a con. And I had this little Gryffindor shield charm from a Harry Potter keepsake holder I got a while back, which acted as a zipper tug until it came *off* If you happen to have the charm I'm talking about, I am interested in buying it. I still need to find a long yellow shoelace to use as a drawstring for the hood, too ...