top of page
Search

Sewing a quilted gilet vest for kids - Forest Journal fabric collection

Updated: Oct 31, 2022


It's the season for quilting, and this fabric is a great choice if you want to cheat at patchwork!



The design comes from my organic cotton collection called Forest Journal which will be in stores next week! It is called 'forest patchwork' and has small squares of different hand-drawn designs including toadstools, books and flowers.




Patchwork print fabric is great if you want that handmade look but don't want to spend hours sewing small pieces of fabric together. The colours already compliment each other and all you need to do is sew along the joins of the squares to create that quilted effect.


I've made a quilted gilet using the kids sewing pattern S9193 by Simplicity. I only used the front and back body pieces but there are options for sleeve ruffles and a stand up collar if you want to get fancy! The gilet fastens with a zip but I decided to use ties for a more organic and rustic look.


I didn't follow the instructions for putting this garment together, so here's how I did it instead -


I cut the two front pieces and one back piece out of the outer fabric, then lining pieces to match.



I used Odif 505 adhesive spray to stick 80/20 wadding to the back of the outer pieces. I cut the wadding back slightly bigger than the pattern pieces to allow for any movement when quilting.



To quilt the pieces, I just used a straight stitch and sewed the lines of the squares on the fabric. I trimmed back the wadding to the size of the pattern pieces and once they were quilted.



I then used the 505 spray to adhere the line pieces to the back of the coordinating outer pieces, sandwiching the wadding in the middle.


I placed the front two panels over the back piece and went on to sew the side seams and shoulder seams with right sides together. Because this leaves a raw edge inside the jacket, I used a contrasting bias binding to conceal the seams. (Image below shows finished garment, the blue bias binding is the last step)



I cut 6 pieces of ribbon that suited the fabric and tacked them evenly to either side of the front of the jacket facing inwards.



Finally, I went around all of the raw edges with bias binding, including the arm holes. The arms were quite tricky because of the small opening but doable after a short break and refuel of coffee!



Overall, this is a fun make and a very cute layering piece for autumn and winter. The jacket could be even more padded with more layers of wadding and I love the little extras with the pattern such as the ruffles that can be added too. I'll be making a couple of variations of this for my daughter because she loves this gilet so much!



Thank you for reading and happy sewing! Kym x


This fabric collection with be launching on Create and Craft on Sunday 30th October.


Alternatively, you can pre order now via my website debbieshoresewing.com type in 'Forest journal' in the search bar. The collection will be in stores and good retailers from the 31st October.



Links -



Lining -


Sewing pattern -





Comments

bottom of page