A Courduroy Vest

 Hello Readers. I have had this corduroy fabric sitting in my stash for a few years. I finally decided what to do with it. I could make a vest. 

I used pieces I had on-hand. Stash busting!

I used this pattern. It is Vogue 7084. 

 

I started cutting out my pieces and realized it was going to take more fabric than I thought. I omitted the collar and the little front pockets.

 

 I also used a different fabric on the the back. It matched well and it was an easy way to use up some more of the fabric stash. This paisley was a sample piece so it was just bog enough for the back of the vest and that's all. 

 

I tried to follow the directions which is difficult for me. I don't like authority figures telling me what to do and how to do it but I was pretty sure Vogue knew more than I did. 

 

I sewed the outer shell and then the inner facings. It was all going well. 

 

I put in my button holes and I thought everything was great. I could not find good buttons in my button collection. Nothing seemed right. I went with clear buttons for now. 

 

 It was bigger than I wanted. I wanted it to be more fitted and it also seemed too long. Ugh!

 

 

 

I shortened it, took in the sides and added darts to each arm hole to improve the fit. I didn't like it over this sweater but I thought it was much closer to my vision. 

 

 My vest was finished and I liked the back fabric a lot. Thanks for reading along. I will be back tomorrow with a matching skirt.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Simple Appliqued Sweatshirt

 Hello Readers. Today is election day. I hope you can get out and vote if you are in the U.S. I wanted to make a shirt for the day that went with the voting theme. (I really love a shirt with a theme.) I wanted spell out the word vote but this idea would work for any word. (Thankful for Thanksgiving, Love for Valentine's Day, Luck for St. Patrick's Day...) I don't have a fancy embroidery sewing machine so let me show you how I did this.

Vote!

 

This sweatshirt was plain and simple and it would be a perfect base for adding some letters. 

 

I had a small piece of cotton fabric with the names of the states. It would be perfect for my letters. And the fabric looked pretty good with my sweatshirt. 

 

The thing that made this project so simple was fusible interfacing. Follow the instructions on the packaging to iron this onto the fabric you want to make your letters out of. 

I used my iron to fuse the interfacing to my fabric. I put my fabric face down and put the bumpy side facing the fabric. I used some scrap white cotton as a barrier between that and my iron. I made my 4 small rectangles because I knew I was going to make 4 letters.

 

The interfacing made the fabric a little thicker and stiffer. It would be easier to handle, cut and sew like this. 

I used a ruler to help me sketch out my letters. I made boxy letters with straight lines. They were easy to draw and they will be easier to sew to my sweatshirt. I used pencil because it will wash out easily.

I cut out all my letters following the pencil lines I drew. 

I arranged my letters on my sweatshirt and made sure I liked the arrangement. These are off center for 2 reasons.

 1. It looked more fun to me. 

2. If I try to line the letters up perfectly straight and they shift even a little in the sewing process, it will be very obvious. Doing it this way will make it easier later. 

I pinned the letters to the sweatshirt. I put pins in all around the letters and made sure they were in different directions to keep the letters in place the best I could while I was sewing.

I used a wide zigzag stitch to attach the letters to the shirt. I sewed all around the edges of the letters. This will keep the edges from fraying and keep the shirt in good condition wash after wash. 

I used different color thread for each letter just for fun. The colors you use are up to you. 

When I was done it was a little wrinkled and the letters had shifted a bit in a couple spots but it's OK. I am not trying to launch a rover to Mars, it doesn't have to be perfect. We are here for a good time, don't stress. I loved how my shirt turned out.

 

 I ironed the whole shirt to smooth out the letters.

My shirt was finished. 

 

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. And vote if you can.

 

 

 

A Ken Costume For a Dog

 Hello Readers. I wanted to make Little Gordon a Ken costume. You remember Ken from the Barbie movie. Little Gordon is going to be Ken for Halloween. 

 Gordon has a bit of an attitude and a lot of diva demands. He will make a great Ken.

I started with this fuzzy sweater. Look at those sleeves. I saw a tiny Ken costume when I saw those sleeves. 

 

I made a sweater vest from the sweater yesterday and I saved these sleeves for my little Ken.

 

 I did some size and shape research. 

 

I cut the sleeve to fit a dogs body. The under/stomach is shorter because Gordon is going to need to do his business. The wrist of the sleeve will be the neck and this curved cut will be the other end of Gordon's new sweater.

 

I cut the holes for the front legs and used my serger to finish the edges. I had the other sleeve and that would be the collar. 

 

I hand sewed the second sleeve into a circle shape. It is going to go around Gordon's neck. Ken wore his fur coat open but that won't work on a dog. 

 

Giant fur collar done!
 

I think I got as close to original Ken as I could. I wanted to make something that Gordon would wear without getting upset. (He can be a little high-strung.) No trauma on our fun Halloween night. 

 

So why did I make a Ken costume? Because I am dressing as Barbie of course. Thanks for reading along, have a happy Halloween.

***Later Edit***

Let's go get that candy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weird White Sweater to Sweater Vest

 Hello Readers. I honestly have no idea where I got this cropped sweater. Maybe from my daughter. It was soft and fuzzy but the fit was wild. I decided it would make a fun sweater vest. Let me show you how I did it.

Before and after.

The sweater was obviously supposed to be cropped and it was meant for someone with longer arms. That's not me but let's look past that. This could be a really fun cropped sweater vest. 

The first thing I did was cut off the sleeves. I saved them for a later project. 

I knew from trying on the sweater that it was too big in the chest so I cut the sweater a little on each side. (About 2 inches on each side.) Cut a sweater? I know that sounds crazy but it can be done. I pinned the front and back together so it would lay flat and not shift around while I was cutting it. I want each side to be the same size so if the sweater isn't cut evenly, it would not work out well when I tried to wear it. 

 

 Those pins also mark where I wanted my armholes to be. I marked that when I tried the sweater on too. I tried to be accurate but sweaters can stretch and adjust to fit. This sweater was very stretchy, that will make it easier to get a comfortable fit.

 I knew I needed to sew new side seams quick because sweaters will unravel. I went straight to my serger. I re-folded the sweater with the front and back facing each other. I sewed my new side seams on the lower half of each side of the sweater. I left the arm holes open for my arms. I used the serger all the way around the arm openings to keep the whole sweater in one piece. 

 

I broke a needle? How? It is a soft sweater! Ugh, I changed the needles out and got back to work.
 

I turned the edge of the arm openings in and used a needle and thread to tack them down and hid the serger stitches. They would hols the sweater yarn together but they were not very pretty. That's OK. I hid them. No one will see them now. 

 

I love this fuzzy little sweater vest. It is fun and looks great now that the super long sleeves are gone. The fuzzy texture and soft knit makes this very comfortable and cozy. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Golden Wrap Skirt

 Hello Readers. I have a small stash of fabric that my mother-in-law gave me and I am always trying to use it instead of buying new fabric. (I am really cheap like that.) I really liked this golden fabric. It was a weird shape and there wasn't very much of it. What could I make? 

Before and after.

 

It's not really gold but it is silk. This fabric came from my mother-in-law's stash. It was kind of a strange shape because it is a scrap from some other project. I like mustard yellow so I decided to try and make something out of this. 

 

This book has so many good patterns. I like the wrap skirt a lot. It doesn't take a lot of fabric to make so it will be perfect for this piece of gold fabric. 

 

I cut out the skirt. It was a simple shape.

 

This pattern has several darts. I marked all of those on the fabric. 

 

I sewed all the tucks and I hemmed the skirt.

 

I wanted to use a button closure. I dug around in my button collection.

 

This skirt was a quick and easy project to make and I love the sheen of the fabric. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.