Vogue 8307

Elvis anyone?

Front View

I call this my Elvis Jacket.  I feel like I should wear this in Las Vegas to an Elvis impersonation show or something.  The pattern is Vogue 8307 and I made it a few years ago.  The main fabric is a wonderful felted wool that I picked up during a vacation to Austria.  The fabric had been aging in my stash until I found the perfect fabric for the collar on another vacation - this time to England.   I love the collar on the jacket - it can either be worn standing up (as in my pictures) or laying down for a flatter look.  I like it standing up.

 

Back view

The buttons on the front are made up of 4 different layers.  The gray base layer is actually a stone meant to be used for a necklace, but when I saw it at a craft fair, I new it would work for my jacket.  The base gray stone piece is then followed by a basic black plastic button, with a white button on top of that, finished off with a smaller black button on top of the white one.  The buttons are sewn to the jacket all at one time - working the needle thru the different holes in the buttons.  After sewing the first few stitches, it gets easier to sew them as one unit. 

Button Stacking

 The fur collar is acrylic with black swirls in it.  It feels wonderful against your skin!  Beware of sewing fur though - I had black fur fuzzy bits all over my sewing room when I was finished. 

Close up of fur collar

The lining is a plain white polyester fabric that I already had in my stash.  I figured the outside of the jacket is so busy, I needed something plain for the inside. 

Side View

Now - I just need to move somewhere where it's a little colder in the winter and I can wear it!

Happy Sewing!

Upcycled Christmas Tree Garland

How to create a Christmas Tree Garland from felted sweaters.

 

Start with a few previously felted sweaters. I used 3 sweaters for this garland.





 

Cut out two circles from cardstock or tagboard to use as a template.  I used a 1.5 inch circle for the outer circle and a 1 inch circle for the inner.  Use this template to cut out lots and lots of circles from the felted sweaters.  I kept these circles in glass jars until I was ready to start sewing.  This is a great mindless project to do in front of the t.v. 

Next, decide on what color thread you would like to sew the garland together.  I chose a red, polyester thread.  A topstitching thread would be a great choice as well.  Then, line up your circles edge to edge and start sewing them together in a continuous line.  I like to stack a small circle on a large circle to add a little more color, but you don't have to.  Just simply line up the circles assembly line style and sew them together in a straight line. 

Note: you may need to slightly lift up the presser foot to accommodate the increased thickness of two circles.
 

 

 

The finished product!  Since it's July at the moment, I don't have a Christmas tree up so I decided to use one of the bushes in my front yard as a model.  Can't wait to see what it looks like on the Christmas Tree this year!

 

 

Happy Sewing!