Vest

A cosy vest

August 10, 2014


About a week ago I saw a post pop up in the PDF facebook group sharing a pic of a sweet little vest which was made from a free pattern.  I loved the look of it and decided to have a look and I ended up making this...


The pattern was made by Lydia from Little Kiwi's closet.  Lydia is a NZ lady who has an etsy pattern shop and blog.  You can read about the vest and download the free pattern here.  The pattern is available is available in sizes 12 months - 6 years. I made size 2 for Emily who is on the smaller size of 2 (although she is 2 years, 5 months) . For me (or should I say, Emily), the fit is spot on and it is a very simple little project. I will admit though that I did not read the instructions (naughty me), and since this is no formal pattern review I can just tell you the finished product is very cute! I made mine from grey marle windcheater (sweater fleece) with the wrong side facing out.  I lined it with some flannelette I bought a couple of months back from Spotlight. I made the stripey top Emily is wearing underneath too but she was all finished with photos before I could photograph it. She does like it though since it has three red ducky buttons on it!



The vest is reversible, depending on whether you decide to sew on a button on each side.  I added blanket stitching around the edge and used a big wooden toggle to close the vest.


It looks so cosy on Emily and I think it might fit her next year too.  Emily is also wearing hand me down cord pants I made using this Ottobre pattern for Issie a few years ago! Gotta love having three girls for value for money! She is standing in front of a tree that my husband felled yesterday (new firewood in the background!). Our property is an ever changing landscape.



Ta da!

Pattern drafting

Introducing: The Little Betty Top and Vest

November 28, 2013

So if you read my post yesterday about my 'work in progress' dress/tunic pattern, you will have read that today I am sharing with you another pattern I have been working on.  It is further along than my dress/tunic and I plan to release it first.  It is called the Little Betty Top and Vest....
 

The Little Betty Top and Vest is a sweet little top with a ruffled frill that extends from the front bodice line to the back bodice line.  There is a button and loop closure at the back, wide waist band and three sleeve options - long with long cuff, short with short cuff (pictured) and sleeveless with short cuff. Sizes 12 months - 8 years.


This version was made up in a super soft interlock.  I think a slightly sturdier jersey may allow the frills to sit out a bit better, but I love the softness of this top. 


Emily is impossible to photograph...my photoshoots with her last about ten seconds because that's as long as she will stand still - and only if my 'big' girls are singing twinkle twinkle behind me and my camera!
 

This button and loop is not what will feature in the pattern...I had the idea to create a tear drop shaped opening, but this only just fit comfortably over Emily's head, so instead, the pattern will have a longer straight opening (as shown in line drawings).

This fabric is from Girl Charlee.  The girls call it "Emily's pasta bow fabric".  If you follow me on facebook, you will have read that I received it as part of my involvement with the most recent season of Project Run & Play.  Two of the other knits I chose will be transformed in to the other two views of the pattern.
 
I am hoping to work a lot on this pattern over the next week or two and get it ready for testing in about two weeks.  My blog is busy each day between 1-12 December with Laura and my The 12 Days of Christmas series.  So, if you are interested in reading more and seeing more about this pattern and possibly testing (there will be a long testing window due to the festive season), please follow me on facebook where I will be updating as I go. 


I would love to hear what you think of this pattern and if you would be interested in testing from around 10 -30 December.  I will create a sign up form and tell you all about in over on facebook!

fur vest

How to make...A faux fur vest

July 29, 2013

I made this faux fur vest a month ago as part of Juliette's Secret Squirrel outfit - and remember,
Secret Squirrel is nearly ready to say hello again...check back here or at StraightGrain to find out where he travels to next - on August 1st! SUBSCRIBE TO SEWPONY HERE FOR MORE PATTERN INSPIRATION.
I hoped to post a tutorial on how I made it soon after, but my pattern took over and the tutorial got put on the back burner.  So now that my pattern is finished, I have had time to put this together and hope you like it! (It took me a while with super slow internet at the moment...Grrr...Vodafone!!)
I love this vest.  It is so soft and cosy.  I bought the faux fur from GJ's Fabric in Brunswick, Melbourne.  It is acrylic but really soft.  It was about $27 per metre from memory, but luckily I only needed 30cm (it was 150cm wide bolt) to make a little vest for Juliette.  I wanted my vest to not quite meet in the middle (front), so I have written up the tutorial for such a vest.

You will need:
  • Faux fur - I only needed 30cm to fit my three year old
  • Lining fabric - the same amount as fur
  • Paper and a texta
  • A t-shirt for tracing
  • General sewing supplies, including a heavier duty sewing needle - I managed with one suitable for sewing denim
Garment construction:

NB: If you use your iron close to your fur, it will singe!! So take care when pressing lining (or just don't worry about pressing ironing to be safe!
Firstly, begin by choosing a reasonably fitted t-shirt that fits your child.
1. Turn your T-shirt inside out and fold down the centre and trace around your T-shirt -  lining up with the vertical edge of your paper.  Add seam allowance.  *I did not add seam allowance to the hem as I wanted my vest to be cropped, rather than long. 
2. Lay paper over your traced back piece and draw a front piece - I lowered the front neckline by 3 cm.  You will see I also shortened the hemline of the back (and so also the front) by 3cm.
3. Create a curve at the top and bottom of your centre front.  I used a French curve, but you can just draw this freehand.
4. Cut out your pattern pieces.
*You will not be able to cut your fur on the fold, so cutting of the fur is a little unconventional.

5. Place your front piece on your fur (wrong side) with pile facing downward. Trace with texta.
6. Flip front piece over and trace your second front.
7. Place your back piece on the fur and trace as you did for front.
8. Flip pattern piece directly over without leaving a gap so you can complete tracing the other half of your back piece.
9.  Cut out your fur pieces.  When cutting, carefully cut the weave of the fur and not the pile.  You can achieve this by using sharp scissors and holding the blades close to the weave.  By not cutting the fur, you will not end up with blunted edges and seams. 

Your fur pieces will look like this: 
 10. Cut out your corresponding lining pieces: 

11. With right sides together, sew your shoulder seams (forgot to take pic of sewing fur shoulder seams together, but I think you can work that out!  Just try to push the fur out of the way of the seams as you sew).  For lining - press seams open as shown.
12. With right sides together, sew fur and lining together as indicated by aqua line.
13. Sew arm hole curves on both sides as shown.
14. Turn your vest right side out: Reach up into vest from back and pull front through to back.  Repeat for opposite front. 
15: Sew side seams: you will be able to pin the lining, but it is too awkward to pin the fur.  Sew up along lining and then along fur as shown below. 
 17: Continuing with vest inside out, sew hem, leaving a gap on one side to turn your vest right side out.

18: Turn vest right side out through gap and hand stitch gap shut.  Turn both the lining and fur edges under as you sew. 

And you are finished:) 
 I would love to hear if you use this tutorial to make a vest.  Just leave a comment and I will come and have a look!!

Dresses

Secret Squirrel Stop # 1: Straightgrain to sewpony

July 01, 2013

 
Secret Squirrel landed in Australia from Belgium three weeks ago.  After three days in quarantine, he was released here in Melbourne and let free to inspire me to sew... An asked Secret Squirrel to pass on these five acorns of inspiration to me to create an outfit for one of my three daughters... 
I sat and pondered and started writing down ideas....I decided to challenge myself to incorporate all five acorns of inspiration to create my outfit.  My thoughts were:

Acorn # 1:  A mandarin duck - tricky...colours, a photoshoot at the boathouse with Juliette eating mandarins? (a bit of a loose connection), feathers??;
Acorn # 2:  'not done' ... I can incorporate this with acorn # 4
Acorn # 3:  A painting by Japanese artist Ando Hiroshige (see larger image here)... I immediately thought of a Japanese kimono and started hunting on ebay for a kimono piece that resembled the painting;
Acorn # 4:  'pleat'...I decided to incorporate this with acorn # 2 and thought of Marta from do guincho's beautiful 3D pleated dresses that she kindly posted a tutorial on.  Fabulous - I had been looking for an excuse to make one of these dresses!
Acorn # 4:  Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.   Hmmm.... the only song that immediately came to mind was "Let's call the whole thing off" (you say potato, I say potarto....).  I started googling their compilations and realised I knew a few from their titles.  "I've got my love to keep me warm" was the one I decided to work with (You can hear the song here.).  I imagined a faux fur vest with hearts incorporated somehow. 

I finished this outfit on Friday night (at midnight mind you).  Luckily Juliette obliged on Saturday morning and I got some sweet shots of her in Secret Squirrel outfit......and here it is!!
 
Let's 'break it down.....'
 
The dress

Acorns - 'not done', 'pleat' and Ando Hiroshige's painting;
Pattern -  A-line dress (I adapted my Debbie's birthday dress pattern which I am excited about - it is currently being tested by some fabulous bloggers as well as my sister and good friend).  The hemline is a little shorter in this version.  I used my friend Marta from do guincho's 3D pleated dress tutorial;
Fabric - Chocolate brown gabardine with Japanese kimono pocket.  The pleats are stitched with fawn embroidery thread. The dress bodice is lined with a fabric I picked up at my local fabric store (Spotlight).  I chose it as it co-ordinated with the kimono piece.  It is not my usual style but I think it goes well with the whole outfit.  The print was called "Sakura's Melody" (an exclusive print for Spotlight).

The faux fur vest
Acorn:  Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong duet: Got my love to keep me warm.
Pattern:  Self drafted - I will be posting a tutorial within the next week or so.
Fabric: Faux fur from a Melbourne fabric retailer - GJ's Fabric.  Lined with the same Japanese quilting fabric used to line the dress bodice.  The heart pocket was a piece of the kimono fabric.

The hair clip
Acorn:  Mandarin duck.
Materials:  Dyed feathers and cross grain ribbon.
I bought some dyed feathers from my local craft store and chose thin cross grain ribbon in the colours of the gorgeous Mandarin duck.  I picked out the feathers to match and glued them with craft glue to one of the girl's clips.  I think it would actually look really cool as brooch or scarf tie too.
I was initially a bit worried that incorporating all five acorns into the outfit might look a bit mismatched, but I think the whole outfit came together cohesively and I am really happy with how everything turned out.  The vest is so soft and Juliette says it feels like a pussy cat.
 
And now...I have the super fun task of passing on five acorns of inspiration to a blogger who is willing to take on the challenge...that is....Secret Squirrel!!!
 
And here they are...
 
1.  Tangerine; 2. Patch; 3. Anne of Green Gables - with the hand of her one true love...Gilbert Blythe (did anyone else dream of marrying 'Gil'??); 4. Australia; 5. Something old.
 
If you would like to be the next blogger in the Secret Squirrel series, leave a comment to let me know.  'Expressions of interest' via comments will close by Saturday  evening (8.00pm Australian Eastern Standard time), after which I will carefully consider and email one blogger to carry on the Secret Squirrel mission.  The email will be sent out by next Monday (July 8th) at 6.00pm (AEST).
 
If you do not hear from me, you can still sew along!  An and I are working on some cool prize packages for the best sew along outfit as well as the best official blogger outfit.  Read all about the ins and outs of this series and the sew along in our initial Secret Squirrel post.  You can upload your photos into the Secret Squirrel flickr group (But NOT UNTIL the 2nd of August).

 
Stay tuned and keep an eye on your inboxes...Secret Squirrel is ready to be set loose!!