Pattern Review: Great Outdoors Vest

Name of the pattern:  The Great Outdoors Vest by Peek-a-Boo Patterns

Pattern Source:  The pattern can be bought as a pdf file on Peek-a-Boo's web site for $7.95.  (affiliate link)

Sizes available:  It comes in sizes 3 months to 12 years.

Special materials required:  This vest has the option to be fully reversible so if you want that feature, pick two fabrics suitable for being outerwear.  It looks great with a faux fur fabric or with something more light weight; lots of options here!  There is also a requirement for a separating zipper and if you are going with the reversible option, the zipper must be reversible too.  There is an option for snaps if you prefer those.

at Yellowstone Park

I wanted the hood to be more of a rain hood so I used rip-stop and plan on spraying it with a scotch guard type product.  

Skill level required:  I would say that the difficulty level of this pattern is somewhere between a beginner and intermediate.  The directions are laid out clearly and the techniques are not especially difficult.  However, the first time one does a lining or a separating zipper, it can be a little stretching ... but not too challenging.

How you came to choose the pattern:  We take our kids to National Parks all the time and my oldest has been earning patches through their Jr. Ranger program.  When she was younger, I made her a vest and sewed her patches on that.  But, she has grown a lot since that vest and earned a lot more patches.  So, I was in search of a pattern for a new vest for her and her brother who is now also earning patches.

Did you deviate from the pattern?  If yes, how?

Because I was making this vest for patches and wanted it to do double duty as a fishing vest, I did make a few changes.  I made cargo pockets and welt pockets to make it more utilitarian.  For the cargo pockets I followed the tutorial at Andrea's Notebook HERE.  I pinned the tutorial to our Tutorials We are Excited to Try board along with other great tutorials.

I also sewed on Velcro strips (the soft fuzzy side) to the vest and used a sticky back Velcro (the hook side) on the patches.  This allows Abi to attach her patches and take them off for washing.  But it also made it so I had a lot of left over soft sticky back and hook sew on Velcro.  Eventually I will have a project needing that combo ... at least I hope.

I did not want it to be reversible and so I just needed to line it.  I used the same instructions in the pattern but simply did not use a reversible zipper and did not put pockets on the inside.

Because I want this vest to last a couple of years, I lengthened it significantly from the pattern and did not make it as narrow as her measurements would call for.

Good:  The vest comes with a ton of different options:

- A hood, collar or collar with detachable hood 

- Patch or In-Seam Pockets 
- Zipper or Snap Closure
 - Puffy/Quilted or Standard 
- Zipper Guard to protect little chins

I especially liked the touch of the zipper guard.  I don't know how necessary it is with my older kids, but it certainly gave the vest a more polished look.  The fit was excellent too.

The Great Outdoors Vest is an excellent option for your boys.  I made one for my son, who is not a tween yet, and he loves it!  And the pattern comes with a full tutorial and color photos in an easy to print PDF.

Abi earning her patch (and me taking a photo in terrible light)

Bad:  With all the add-ons and already existing details, this vest took forever to sew.  I know this could be a quick pattern, but the more you add in the details, the more time you need to expect to spend on the vest.  But, my kids insist the time was well spent.

Overall pattern rating:  4  out of 5 bolts  

The Mia Summer Dress and Top

Hello, this is Stacy here.  I blog at StylinStacy.com, and have been working on sewing up fun clothes that my tweens will wear!

I will start out with reviewing some patterns from the new Simple Life Pattern Company.  It started this winter, as one of the designers left CKC.  They have had some cute clothes that work for both tweens and little ones.  Some of them really don't hit the majority of tween demographic, but I have been pretty happy with the ones I have tested and made.

Name of the pattern: Mia Summer Top and Dress

Pattern Source: TheSimple Life Pattern Company

Sizes available: 2T - 12

Special materials required: Woven cotton (about 1 yard for the top, and 2.5 – 3 yds for the tiered maxi dress), elastic and bias tape (or you can make your own!)

Skill level required: Experienced beginner

How you came to choose the pattern: I am a pattern tester for this company, and I asked my tween if she would wear this particular top/dress.  She said YES!  First I made the top out of a ombre dot by Michael Miller.  The binding on the back is purchased bias tape, and I added a ribbon to the waist band. 

For the maxi dress, I used another MM ombre dot, only this was a glitter dot one.  I didn't have quite enough, but I made it work.  The bands in between the tiers I added a gold ribbon to give it some extra bling.

Did you deviate from the pattern?  Yes

If yes, how?  The pattern does not enclose the waist seam on the inside.  I did a fully enclosed bodice.

Good:

This top and dress basically fit her right off the bat.  I went with her measurements and graded between sizes (in this case I did 8W, 10L).  The pattern instructions were fairly straight forward, and this is a pretty easy pattern to make.

Bad:

The non-enclosed waist seam bugs me.  It just seems like it would be scratchy for them, especially with all the gathering.  When I enclose a waist seam, I usually sew the wrong side of the skirt to the right side of the inside lining.  Iron the seam upwards.  Then, I iron a seam allowance on the outside bodice and pin it over the seam.  Topstitch.

Ugly:

Nothing really ugly, but a caveat.  If your tween is wearing a bra, then this might show it a little bit.  I would say to wear one with a thin back, and it should work.  This was a cute pattern as both the maxi dress and top. 

Overall pattern rating:

More Support for Tween Sewing

Recently Sally and I were contacted by Stacy of the blog Land of KA.  She has been a guest here on Sew Cool a couple of times (lace overlay tutorial and breeze top) in the past and has sewn many amazing outfits for her boy and girl.  She invited us to be a part of a new FaceBook group that is focused on tween sewing.  Hmmm, tween sewing, do we like to do that?  Yes!

The group is simply a place to share about the ups and downs of sewing for tweens and give feedback on patterns.  It is a closed group, so you simply need to ask to join and we will let you in.  The only reason we are closed is to try to keep spam and off topic posts to a minimum.  There are rules, but most of them revolve around keeping the topics tween sewing related and being respectful.

Are you interested?  Well here is the link:  Sewing for Tweens.

And we have even more news!

We have invited Stacy to join the Sew Cool team and she said yes.  We thought it would be good to have more variety in our reviews and she has a great style that would provide more ideas for our readers.

Did you know that we pay for most of our patterns we review?  Since we pay for them, we usually pick ones that our particular kids will like and we can use multiple times.  But that does limit the range of patterns we can share.  Having another person on the team should help out.  (This is also why we started being an affiliate for Peek-A-Boo patterns and BurdaStyle; and more soon.)

In the last two years we have noticed that the community of people who sew for tweens have been growing and we look forward to Sew Cool growing and adapting to assisting that community.

Major Moma and Sally

Sewing Culottes

Last week we asked you all if your tween (girl; sorry sewers for boys) would wear cullottes?  Well, I since I was anxious to sew some up, I searched far and wide accross the internet looking for patterns that would be good options.

Guess what?  I could only find one.  Just one.  Surely someone who designs patterns for tweens also loves this trend.  There are actually a few for women.  Burdastyle and the other big pattern makers have various culotte options for the home sewist.  It is when you start looking for tween sizes, it gets more difficult.

What was the one I found?  Well it is the Nina Skirt and Culotte by Compagnie M..  It is actually a Teen and Ladies pattern so it only comes in the upper ranges of tween sizing.

I have this pattern and I hope to sew it up before summer ends.  If I don't get to it, then you may see an Autumn version in corduroy or wool in the future.

Now it was not exactly true that this is the only pattern.  There are a few vintage patterns available out there on Etsy and other sources of various lengths of culottes.

source

Do you guys know of any culotte patterns that would fit tweens?

Would They Wear Culottes?

This spring I noticed that culottes had come back into fashion for the spring/summer 2014 and have been more prevalent this year.  I am pretty excited about this trend because I have always loved them. They have the comfort and practicality of shorts but have a dressy quality about them.  I think they are a lovely option for a tween girl.

And what makes a culotte different from shorts?

According to Wikipedia it is "Culottes are an item of clothing, originally the knee-breeches commonly worn by gentlemen of the European upper-classes from the late Middle Ages or Renaissance through the early nineteenth century."  To learn more about this fashionable short pant read the rest of the Wiki article HERE.

Elle Magazine's 2014 picks

Glamour's Spring 2015 most wearable trend

I also like a shorter version of the culotte that hits at the knee.  I think it is a great length for active tweens running around at home, the playground, or on family outings.

So what do you think?  Would your tween wear culottes?