The Art of Felt Embellishments: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Unique Vest

When it comes to working with felt, one of the things that sets it apart from other fabrics is its versatility. Unlike traditional fabrics that require folding and sewing, felt can often be worked with in a more free-form way, allowing for a unique and creative approach to embellishments. In this article, we'll explore the process of adding felt embellishments to a vest, using a combination of techniques such as machine sewing, fringing, and binding.

The first step in creating our felt embellished vest is to prepare the fabric. We're working with a variety of colors and textures, but one thing that unifies them all is the way they interact with each other. Felt is a great medium for layering and building up different elements, which allows us to create complex designs and patterns. In this case, we're using a combination of felt strips and fabric scraps to add visual interest to our vest.

One technique that's particularly useful when working with felt is the ability to sew it raw, without folding or finishing the edges. This means that we can simply sew the felt onto the vest, leaving the raw edge intact. Not only does this simplify the sewing process, but it also adds a unique texture and visual element to our design.

To get started, I'll place my vest right here on the work surface and begin sewing along the edge of the bandage area where the fabric starts meets the felt. As I sew, I'll keep an eye on how the felt lies against the fabric, making sure that it's smooth and even. Since we're going to be adding fringe later, I don't need to worry too much about getting a perfect seam – just a simple, secure stitch will do.

As I continue sewing along the edge of the vest, I'll keep my eyes on the other sections where the felt is already attached. This will help me get into the zone and start thinking about how the different elements fit together. It's almost like building a puzzle, except instead of using traditional puzzle pieces, we're working with layers of fabric and felt.

Now that we've got our basic shape established, it's time to add some fringe. Fringe is a great way to add movement and texture to a design, and it can be achieved in a variety of ways. In this case, I'll be using scissors to cut small strips of felt along the edge of the vest. The key is to make sure that each strip is long enough to hang down from the vest, but not so long that it gets tangled or caught on anything.

As I cut my fringe, I'll keep an eye on how the strips lie against the vest. Since we're going for a retro-inspired look, I'm thinking of adding some bold, bright colors and playful patterns to our design. The fringe will be a great way to add some visual interest and create movement – just imagine the vest in action!

Now that we've got all our fringe cut and ready to go, it's time to attach it to the vest. This is the part of the process where things get a little tricky – but don't worry, I'll walk you through it step by step. To start, I'll place my binding T's along the edge of the vest, making sure that they're evenly spaced and smooth out any wrinkles.

Next, I'll trim off any excess fabric from the edges of the binding, creating a clean and tidy finish. This is where being detail-oriented really pays off – taking the time to get every edge just right makes all the difference in the end.

With our binding trimmed and ready to go, it's time to start sewing along the edge of the vest. Since we're going for a retro-inspired look, I'm thinking of using some bold, contrasting colors to add visual interest to our design. As I sew, I'll make sure to sandwich each layer tightly under the machine, making sure that everything lies flat and even.

One thing that's really useful when working with fringe is knowing how it will behave in different light conditions. Since we're going for a retro-inspired look, I'm thinking of adding some bold colors and playful patterns to our design – but at the same time, we want to make sure that the fringe doesn't get lost or obscured.

To achieve this balance, I'll be using a combination of techniques such as layering and texture. By building up different elements and playing with light and shadow, we can create a visually interesting design that really pops. And since we're working with felt, which is inherently layered and textured, there are plenty of opportunities to add visual interest through clever use of layering.

Now that we've got our binding sewn in place and our fringe attached, it's time to add the final touches to our vest. This includes a few things, such as adding some decorative stitching or embellishments – but for now, let's focus on the fringes themselves. One thing I love about working with felt is that you can create all sorts of different textures and patterns by layering and building up different elements.

As I finish up my fringe work, I'll take a step back to admire our handiwork. The result should be a unique and visually interesting vest that's full of personality and charm. With its bold colors, playful patterns, and intricate details, this vest is sure to turn heads – and we've had a blast getting here through the process.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys if they never made everyday comm today I want to show you how to make a really simple kids play vest it's great for parties for costume for school functions or just for playing around the house so let's do it I love this simple vest pattern because it can be used for so many different things and in fact I was making them for years for my kids and they've gotten a lot of use out of it here's a little sheriff best my kids love that one or how about a pirate I made a bunch of these for a birthday party one for my son came out as gifts at the end or a real pirate is a little ruffled I've even made them as little pilgrim ounces like I said so many different reasons to have a simple vest pattern today what I want to show you is one of my favorites though it's a cute little kind of cowboy frontier vest for a boy or a girl or also for a boy or a girl we're going to make this cute one with multi-coloured here's what you need belt fabric in a few different colors and my free best pattern you can make these vests as simple or as complex as you want you could just sew it right at the shoulders and so at the side seams and you're done which is great need a really fast simple does you know your kid tells you the night before and the school project tomorrow that's the way to go I think you'll find as you start sewing them that it is so much fun to add all the little accessories the friends the yadda-yadda-yadda and have a lot of fun I promise so let's start by cutting out our main vest fabric I love felt fabric because it is so easy to work with it doesn't fray at the edges there are the billion projects and things you can make with it in fact I'm sure you've already sewn with felt before I got all these in my local jo-ann fabric and craft store and they had a huge variety of colors I love that because every holiday every project you need a lot of colors they have some etre like these ones a polyester and wool blends but they also carry some that are 100% wool which is really nice and awesome if you have a really special project that you're doing you can also buy these in pre-cut squares in the craft section or you can get these by the yard from the bowl in the fabric section I think for this stuff so we're going to go with a navy now again I'm using my friend here best pattern that you can find on my website go to meit everyday comm and as you can see there is one counter piece for the front and back of the best right here it says place on the fold for the back so we're going to do that first I have myself here and the other great thing about this felt you can buy by the art is that it's 72 inches wide I mean that's like huge so you get a lot of fabric 4-yard holding this placing money best right here and let's maximize our table right here there we go okay and again I am really as deserved person so I like to use my scissors to cut everything out and I cut my pieces on here but if you are more of a rotary cutter person you can use that as well so just cut right around the pattern piece and the reason we're placing it on the fold is so that we have one large space when we're done for the front we are not going to cut on a list that you have two separate pieces okay there we go back of our best now let's cut the front and as we notice on here it says just a little dotted line that's where you want to fold it under that give it kind of that being a front if you did it want that for instance on my little pilgrim vest I left that up and had a little tie so that it was like a fully almost up to your collar so fold that in half well not fold that over and then we'll cut to these people okay we have our back we have our two friends now let's talk about our trim pieces for our best we need to cut three different trim areas one is the binding that's going to go all the way around the front and around the armholes here they would need to cut three different pieces for our fringe on the top and then we need one piece for the fringe on the bottom here's what dimensions you should cut it a binding strip that is 1 in 1/4 inches wide and about 80 inches long and you can cut this in a few different strips 3/4 inch pieces that are 1 and a half to 2 inches wide and about 50 inches long and 1/4 inch piece that is 3 inches wide and about 30 inches long let's start by sewing the shoulder seams first I have my back laying down let's place the front pieces on top and I'm placing these with right sides together although it felt there's not really a right or a wrong side but pay attention to that if you were using a different kind of fabric and like I was saying earlier you could just show the shoulders so the sides and you're done but we're going to start with just the shoulder first let's go to our machine I'm just using about a half inch seam allowance here and do a forwarded back to the beginning and for tobacco to the end and you wanna use this red color that's going to coordinate with your fabric since I'm using multiple colors of felt that means I might be changing my thread or I'm just going to be a little lazy and use hot pink for most of it so see whatever works for you it's not hard to change the strategy originating but sometimes it becomes kind of to you so so your hot pink would blend well ok now what we're going to do is already have one of my binding pieces here and this is the one that I've cut one in 1/4 inches wide we're going to start by doing the binding around the armhole first if I open this up you can see that right there take your fabric and we're doing this just real simple and basic this isn't my case you know fantastically perfectly plays binding I'm just sandwiching the fabric around my arm hole just like that and you want to make sure that it's overhanging the edge a little bit and then we'll trim that one more done now come back over to your machine now I have placed it so that the top of the binding is a little bit less wide than the bottom so that it ensures that for sure it's sewing to the backside if that makes anything okay for in taxes you don't need to pin anything context felt is awesome because it kind of sticks to itself so you don't need pins is frequently okay you just keep sandwiching and shipping and all that stuff as you go can we get the end do another bad fish and then let's do the same thing on the other side okay let's turn off the excess like that now we're ready to attach our friends can you want to start with your outside fringe piece first so I'm grabbing the pink and you want this to hang over the opening of event that makes sure that when we do the binding everything's touched and looks nice inside I'm facing this about one and a half inches over from the neckline and what will happen is it will just kind of go around like this and as we get to this curved areas it's going to kind of tuck and fold under a little bit but that's fine the next fringe piece is going to kind of hide that so it will go around like this and we are going to actually pin this in place doesn't where you want easier pin I'm just showing you real quick how the process is going to work and then that's going to come off the other end over there then you grab your next piece and put that over about an inch from the neckline again hanging over and it's slightly overlapping the first French piece that's going to fold around then and these are the strips that I cut two inches wide that goes around like that and then two lot of strange piece I come to some one and a half inches wide you need to cut this to inches also I just wanted it to be a little bit shorter so that it just kind of popped a little bit and that one will be flush with the neckline and we'll try to go around like this and come to here so we're going to sew the outside and work our way in and then at the very end then we get to cut all the little fringe so first let's go with the pink one and I'm going to grab my little ruler here measuring about one and a pinches and the pin is holding in place and then we're in go so Candy's about a quarter inch seam allowance over use whatever you want this theme is actually going to be kid in when the next layer is sewn on top just sew all the way around okay when you get to these parts where it starts to curve I've kind of tucked and pin some of these places so it's kind of fold it over each other just kind of tuck that under there so and like I said once they cut the fringe and when the other layer is hiding that you're not going to notice that here's another area where I kind of folded it so that it is curving for me go rail and keep going back to the other side can I be in here now let's do the next piece grab our oatmeal colors too and we got one slightly over and that employs can also this in place the exact same way quarter inch seam allowance all the way around came at the end again taxes now what is the last cringe piece grab your orange and hang that one around okay back to our machine so is the same way back to the end and let's just see how that looks you can see there are a lot of funky looking little gathers don't worry about that once we cut the fringe and once to have the binding around it's going to look totally fine okay now we're going to sew the side seam so lay it flat fold the two front pieces back to the right sides are together nice and like this and sew down both sides same thing happening allowance you might have to kind of give it a little closer at the beginning going through a lot of layers okay there we go and you know if you're not even a sower you could make this best really simple and just glue the thighs felt is so often that way you can Zone on so and happens okay do the other side okay turn it right-side out and look it's already looking like a vest we're so close on this one now we're going to attach the fringe that goes along the bottom so grab your other piece three inches wide and what I'm going to do open the sets of the flat I'm going to have this overhang about I don't know one inch one and a half inches it doesn't really matter just what you want and I make it flush with the edge here great thing about felt is I don't have to fold the edges under anything you can just sew it raw just how it is like that let's come back over and attach it right here I'm not pinning it I'm just kind of eyeballing it as I go I kind of just look and see okay I'm in place and just go right down okay now go back and sew another line that's going to attach it right to the bottom part right here so that might be easier to do on the other side I'm going to turn the X up here so the same parallel line right here - so just make sure that it stays inside as well okay now all we have to do is attach the binding around the front and then we'll cut our fringe and then we're done so grab your binding T's and like I said you needed about 80 inches but it didn't have to be one long continuous piece because we're showing it in some different sections so I have a piece right here that is long enough to go all the way around and first I'm going to trim off these edges here but always feel so good to clean things up I don't know I guess I'm a little weird OCD that way but a nice clean line okay trim that off same thing on the other side and we'll trim off this bottom piece so because it's kind of hanging over right here there we go okay now our binding is going to start at the bottom go all the way around and come back to the other side so we're going to do it just like we did last time I'm not going to really pin it I'm just going to sandwich it and hope for the best so as you can see here I'm not attaching it to this fringy part I'm just starting at the bottom of the Navy fabric where the death starts bandaging it like that going back to my machine sewing it in play okay just sandwich those that you keep going around that edge it really makes it look nice impalas even though it's felt I love it now when you get to these little fringe parts you just want to make sure that they're laying flat and we're going to sandwich those right inside too which makes it also look really cool we're all about really cool and fun places and cowgirls and cowboys and Pyro's okay okay when we get to this corner right here you just kind of I don't know curve it a little bit you don't have to tuck it or fold it it will just naturally kind of Bend I guess around the corner for you because you have all those felt layers in there it doesn't make a hard edge or anything like that because there all these layers you might need to kind of help your fabric just go through the Machine a little bit and just mixtures are sewing that you're covering that stitch from the previous fringe piece which should be just fine around that second corner there make sure all your fringe pieces are laying flat at all in closed and I cut my excess piece right here okay so at the end okay and then always do a little quality control inspection real quick just make sure that you sewed all through the binding on the back if there's any spots that need to be touched up just go back and fix those pieces okay now is our big moment let's cut the fringe I love how it kind of looks like a retro 1970s version of the futuristic says something like that let's have some fringe to it though take your scissors and this is a really fun part I love doing this we're going to cut little snip all the way around making sure we don't cut into our vest or anything like that and when you start at the edge here you're going to kind of cut parallel to the binding and then as we go up you can start to just kind of fringe out kind of make your fringes go around like that as it goes around the next line and I'm just cutting and I know it's got to happen whatever you want your fringe to look like and here's that gathered area as you can see if I cut that with a fringe it looks pretty cool you don't even notice that it was all gathered up like that okay now let's cut the other layers another next one and then look at the bottom and there is my last night okay let's see what it looks like fold this over oh man that is so cute I love how fringe adds just such a cool element to any project how do you think fantastic I know my daughter's going to love this because she loves hot pink Angeles with scooter around I'm thinking scooter and cowgirl it might work for more ideas in tutorials visit my website made every day calm and for all of your cells and other so needs go to your local jo-ann store or visit Joanne comm I'll see you next time bye\n"