Sew Ready to Play Etch A Sketch with Michele Made Me

Today’s guest is Michele from Michele Made Me! One of my lovely sponsors! And one amazing crafter/sew-er/quilter! One day I am going to make a hexagon quilt as amazing as hers! Michele and I have been getting to know each other over the last few years through commenting on each other’s blogs. Then we finally got to ‘meet’ with a video chat a few months back and that was great. (if you want to know more about me, check it out!)  It’s amazing how many friends can be made, all over the world, through this blogging thing! If you haven’t been to Michele’s blog, you really are missing out on tons of great projects!

Welcome Michele!

Hey I’m Feelin’ Crafters. How you doin’? My name is Michele and I come from a tiny place of craftiness  known as Michele Made Me. I’m most thrilled to be here and “I’m sew ready to play“! How ’bout you?

Actually, I have to say. I pert near scratched a hole in my head tryin’ to figure out which game to choose. But all that scratching was not in vain because, in time, Etch-A-Sketch came to me in a red, white and grey blaze of glory. I love Etch-A-Sketch. Who doesn’t, eh? Have you taken a gander at some of the amazing art that people have created with this clever clever plaything. Seriously. Google it. It’s rad, man.

So I decided to make a cute, comfy, wearable vest as an homage to the Etch-A-Sketch!

But here’s the thing. I’d made a couple vests back in the day. Like, 18 years ago. And wouldn’t you know it, I still had the pattern (Butterick #4055 Fast and Easy Classics) from 1995. Hey, it’s perfectly usable and nice… So I decided to go with it. Consequently, today’s post is not really a tutorial because I did not create the pattern. No, today’s post is more of an “account of my vesty process”. Hope that works for ya, eh?

Alrighty.

This very simple vest pattern has only two pieces, the front and the back, and it is lined. For ease of “sketching” and for added warmth, I decided to add a second lining of flannel which means that I cut each pattern piece out twice each in lining (red), flannel (white) and main fabric (grey). That’s right. That’s six pieces each of both front and back patterns!

After individually sewing, trimming and pressing the darts in all front and back pieces, I layered and pinned together each flannel piece to its corresponding main fabric piece. I sewed together the backs as shown below to the right.

Here’s where it gets exciting!

At this point, I used my old machine fitted with a darning foot to “Etch-A-Sketch” (AKA free-motion quilt) my design on the grey vest pieces in black thread. I kept it simple. I was going for subtle. But no one says you have to. You could create a very detailed design (as people have with their Etch-A-Sketches) and make a truly one-of-a-kind, never-seen-anything-like-it vest for yourself. It’s important to keep in mind that any part of your design that is close to the edge of your pieces will disappear within the seam allowances.

So now it’s just a matter of joining everything together as per the pattern instructions, trimming and clipping your seams, turning the good side out, and stitching it shut. Oh ya, and I added a couple of white buttons to really bring to mind the Etch-A-Sketch.

So there you have it: the simple and pretty Etch-A-Vest!

Now given that Butterick #4055 is 18 years old, it’s as likely as not that you’ll be able to get your hands on a copy. But if you get a hankering to make your own Etch-A-Vest, I did locate a couple similar vest patterns that are available online:

• Kwik Sew 3557
• Kwik Sew 2664

Also, I happened across THIS list of 25 free vest patterns compiled by Craft Stew just in case you’re some sort of vest-a-holic or just want to sew vests for all your peeps. Go to it!

Come on by Michele Made Me for a touch of craft anytime. Check out my tutorials page why doncha? And thanks so much for allowing me to share this space with you today, Louise! It’s been a delight!