Sewing Pattern : Hansel & Gretel Quilted Vest

The child's size 6/7 Hansel & Gretel Quilted Vest sewing pattern is now available. Hansel's Stylo vest was the original inspiration, but I've simplified and refined a few things along the way to accommodate the tutorial format (rather than a full on printed pattern format). My goal with this design is to create a basic vest pattern that is easily altered to create infinite variations. 

The Hansel & Gretel Quilted Vest is a fully lined, quilted vest, with patch pockets and a snap front closure. The pattern consists of a single size, 9 page PDF download (found here). The instructions (found here) are sew along style and available here. The finished chest is 31 1/2", the finished shoulder to hem is 16 1/2".

Get the pattern:

Hansel & Gretel Vest PDF Pattern

Hansel & Gretel Vest Instructions

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Free Toddler Witch Hat Sewing Pattern

I have a vast archive of homemade halloween costumes that I have never blogger about. If L looks conspicuously young in this photo, its because its two years old. And the hat was made almost two years before that. Yes, L was a witch for her first halloween. I wanted to make her a hat that would stay on her little toddler head, and that she would be pretty likely to keep on. The result has a very tall point, a very short brim, and very cute on a tiny little witch. 

This free pattern includes a PDF download of pattern pieces, and the pictorial instructions shown below. There are only 3 pieces to this hat, and only 4 seams to sew. I made the hat out of synthetic felt from Joann. Sewing with felt is sort of like sewing with construction paper, it's easy to work with and there are no seams to finish. All of this makes this little witch hat the perfect starter sewing project. 

For me the fun part is adding the decoration. Sure it could be a plain ol' witch hat, but I love this oversized purple felt bow. I sewed on a giant green plastic spider that was a birthday party favor, but you could use one of the mountains of spider rings your kid brought home last year, or pick some other little creepy crawly up at the party supply store. 

Download Pattern Here:

FREE TODDLER WITCH HAT PATTERN

Sizing:
12 Months - 2T approximately 18 1/2" head circumference.

Supplies:
Scissors
Tape
1/2 Yard Black Craft Felt  54" Wide
Matching Thread

Optional Embelishments:
Ribbon
Yarn for pompoms
Plastic Creepy Crawlies

1. Print pattern pieces, use the 1" square box on each sheet to be sure it is the correct size.

2. Match up the grid and the letters in the corner of each page, then tape the pattern pieces together.

3. cut out each pattern piece on the cut line. Pin pattern pieces to fabric, aligning with fold where indicated, but out fabric.

5. Here are the pieces first folded in half, then unfolded. You will have cut 1 Hat Crown, and 2 Brim pieces. One will be the Top Brim, one will be the Bottom Brim.

6. Right sides together (hint - wool felt has no wrong side!), fold the crown piece in half at the fold line. Sew a line of stitching 1/2" from the open edge. Back stitch at the beginning and the end as close to the cut edge as possible. 

7.Trim the corner of the tip. Press open the resulting seam. Carefully turn the crown piece right side out. Use a knitting needle, or pencil tip, to push the tip of the cone of the crown to the sharpest point possible without pushing a hole in the end of the cone. 

8. Using a long basting stitch, sew 1/2 line around the bottom brim piece. Trim from edge up to (but not through) the line of basting at 1" intervals. Flatten the tabs to be perpendicular to the cone of the crown.

9. Place the top brim over the point of the crown. Align the inside edge of the top brim piece with the basted line on the crown. Pin the top brim to the tabs along the bottom edge of the crown making sure they are flat up against the top brim piece. Sew the crown to the top brim by sewing a seam 1/8" from the inside edge of the top brim.  

10. Place the Crown/Top Brim assembly on top of the Bottom Brim piece. Make sure that all of the edges of the two Brim pieces align, and that the tabs of the Crown are sandwiched between the two Brim pieces. Pin along the inside and outside edges.

11. Sew the Bottom Brim piece to the Top Brim/Crown assembly 1/4" from the inner edge of the Top Crown piece. Sew the two Brims together 1/4" from the outer Brim edge.

12. Lightly press your hat (make sure to use the lowest setting on your iron if you are using synthetic felt). Embellish as desired. 

This is my first attempt at multi piece pattern sharing.  Please send any helpful feedback to:

 sweetkm1 (at) yahoo (dot) com 

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Seed Stitch Knit Cowl

I rarely knit for myself. I am much too hard to please.

My original intention was to do a structured stitch pattern. I love this one from the Purl Bee, but it just wasn't working for the look I wanted. The wrong side is more or less woven, making the finished knit fairly rigid. I started over with a simple seed stitch. Perfectly slouchy, perfectly two sided, and perfect for the buttery soft Misti Alpaca Chunky yarn from Yarnphoria on Pine Street in Philadelphia. Love the yarn, love this new store (partly because its so close by). Seriously large selection and great sale section in the back.

Quick Little Pattern:
Using size 10 circular needles, and a chunky yarn giving you 3 stitches per inch, cast on 91 (or any odd number) of stitches. K1,P1 until the cowl is the desired length. Each skein of yarn knits about 5 1/2" of height; I used 3 skeins. If you're feeling cheap (as I normally am), two skeins will make a perfectly passable 11" cowl. Three skeins puts it over the top for coziness, and makes it long enough to pull up over your head when you can't find your hat (as I normally can't).

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Simple Seed Stitch Cowl Page

Printable Valentine Treat Bag Labels

You may have heard me at the playground railing against the overload of sugary snacks that come home in my kid's backpack after any school holiday party. Eighteen candy canes. A bushel of candy corn. I sent nothing to school on those occasions (except for the specific requests of room mom and teacher, which I can promise you were healthy), and you can be sure I never will. As J was inventorying his 14th Christmas candy cane, it occurred to me that maybe another kid somewhere in the vicinity was taking particular note of the lack of candy cane from my kid. So, for the sake of the kindergarten status quo, I am going to try to put my scrooginess aside, and come up with some sort of treat for my favorite school holiday, Valentines Day. There is nothing I love more than a paper reflection of my love.  Finding a homemade way around the box of trademarked cartoon characters with a caned message from the mega mart, brings me more joy than a truck load of candy ever could.

This year's class is enormous, too big for all the cutting required of last year's recycled finger painting masterpieces. The solutions: Printable Cracker Valentine Treat Bag Labels. LOVE is spelled out on the front is Scrabble Jr. Cheez-its and the card is made to fold over a snack sized zip-lock bag filled with the actual cracker. J wrote his name once and I photoshopped it to the back of the card. Cut, fold, staple, done! Not a particularly healthy snack, but a shade or two better than the boxes of candy hearts I am bracing myself for.

You can download a copy of the Cracker Valentine Treat Lables to print on your own. I printed mine in color on white card stock at a copy center. Feel free to share the PDF with friends by giving them the link directly to this post.

Sweet Heart Valentine Ornaments

We have moved far too many times for me to consider myself the kind of sewer that has a "stash." But I am scrap happy with these little hearts. After barely rummaging through a single fabric box I found pieces my mother saved from her early 80's quilting phase, torn oxford shirts, vintage ebay finds, and all the pieces of fabric I bought with big plans that never actually happened. Thirty seven mini hearts later, I realize I have quite the "stash" after all.

The simplicity of this idea makes it infinitely adaptable. I've made an advent countdown (more on that later), Christmas gift toppers and two magic wands with this pattern. I'm sure even a beginner could come up with ten more ideas before the first heart is cut out. It's numerous uses merit a formal, written down tutorial, with clear step by step instructions, FREE (heavens, what's gotten into her!?) right here for all to share.

I can see little hearts at each place at your Valentine table, or tucked into the pocket of an unsuspecting beau. So, download away. Please keep me up to date on any Sweet Heart innovations that simply must be shared with the world.

Download now: Sweet Heart Ornament Pattern

Fine Print: Please do not redistribute this pattern. You can share to your heart's content by linking directly to this post. Thanks.