Toddler Poncho: Design & Sewing How-To's

My daughter requested new ponchos for my granddaughters (3 and 18 months) for Christmas - so of course, I complied.  With some experience under my belt (since I had made the older girl a poncho of heavy polar fleece a year plus ago), I was ready to improve on the design, especially of the hood.  Fitting grandbabies from afar is not an easy task!  I did take some pictures as I worked, knowing I would write a blog post, so here we go, but 1st:  a picture of my two darling girls, along with their handsome Daddy.

Here's a close-up pic of them on the floor once completed in my Studio.

FWIW: my daughter says she especially loves the poncho style to keep them warm in their car/seats without all the body bulk of a heavy coat.

Pattern Drafting

First - for a pattern.  Since a poncho = a circle, that was easy enough. But, how long?  What should be the dimensions of the inner circle (neck hole)?  Again - without the girls close enough to measure myself, I asked for a length from neck down the arm to finished hem, and with that, I grabbed an old pattern..... mainly for the hood (which I had NOT done well with on the first poncho I'd made over a year ago.)

At least with this hood pattern, I realized that the edges of the hood met at the center front (which I had messed up on the first go-round.) Then, I also asked for a length top to neck of their heads, and also a measurement from center back of their heads around to covering their ears.