Patched Adventure Vests

In my previous post from 7/17/23 I showed the Adventure Guides vests I'd made for my son and his two daughters. Alas, they were too small... sort of.  They did fit in a fashion, but they were so short that there would not be much room for more badges. I needed to lengthen them in some way. I did not want to remove the personal appliqués nor the ribbon names I'd stitched on the front, so I needed to lengthen them by inserting a band. For the first of the three vests I "patched", I thought it would be easier to only have one seam on the back and two on the front. I needed to un-sew the side seams to insert the extensions this way. Big mistake. Too much effort. For the other two, I accepted two seams on each the front and the back.

When I did resew the side seams on that first vest, I took a smaller seam allowance to allow a bit more room around the chest. I did have to scratch my head a bit; the math never worked out on the first vest. The front band I inserted on Vivian's is wider than the back band I added on the bottom, and yet the front and back side seams are the same length. Go figure. 

I slashed Lillian's and her dad's vests horizontally and inserted the bands: 2" wide for 7-yr-old Lillian, 3" wide for 9-yr-old Vivian, and 4" wide for their dad. This was not as straight forward since the rest of the vest was already constructed with its lining; but I managed. The vests were not as pristine as I would have liked, but they are certainly serviceable. Due to the construction sequence, there needed to be top stitching to complete the assembly, but it turned out looking a bit decorative. The attention should be on the badges anyway as symbols of accomplishments. The vests are merely background.

The next part of this project, after modifying the vests, was to sew on 30 accumulated patches. I initially estimated that at 10 minutes per patch, that was 300 minutes or 5 hours. I did not want to disillusion myself into thinking that I would whip out this project one evening after dinner. I set aside a Saturday with no other commitments to do it. In order to get organized and get on a roll, I picked out all the matching thread colors first and wound two full brown bobbins. 

I started with the largest patches; they needed to be centered on the back of the each vest. Because each vest was a different size for same size patches, I needed to eyeball what location looked right and balanced but I was careful to make sure each patch was oriented level. Then I arranged four more patches in similar locations on the back of each of the vests. In the first hour and a half, I had attached five patches to the back of each of the three vests. Doing the math that is about 6 minutes per patch and not quite as onerous as initially estimated. The backs of all three vests are shown in the following photos.

It was a good thing I wound a second bobbin. I did need it for satin stitching around the final 5 patches. Here is the second batch of 15 patches, five patches on the front of each vest. I biased them toward the top so there will be room for several more patches as they are earned from extra activities. I completed this second round in about 2 hours. The fronts of all three vests are shown in the following photos.

I will clean the random strings and lint off the vests and give them a good pressing. Then I will ship them off to SoCal. I will not delay publishing this post for pictures of the the modified vests being worn by my son and granddaughters. If they still do not fit, I do not want to know.

Adventure Vests

When my son Dan was young, he and his dad were active in the YMCA father/son activity program in the mid to late 1980's called Indian Guides. The father/daughter program was called Indian Princesses. There were mother/daughter and mother/son options as well. The YMCA sponsored program still exists and is popular today but its name has been changed to Adventure Guides. Per a 2003 article in the Los Angeles  Times 

While YMCA officials say the name change was not a reaction to Native Americans offended by the Indian theme, an executive board member for the American Indian Movement said hundreds of tribes, American Indian organizations and non-Indian organizations have taken a position that programs and sports teams should stop using American Indian themes and mascots.

The participants still wear vests and sport patches representing the different activities they did together. They no longer exchange wampum and their tents are no longer tee-pees, but Dan and his girls have fun together in the renamed YMCA program. I mailed Dan's vest and that of his Dad down to him. He and his younger daughter Lillian are modeling them. Dan is wearing what used to be his dad's vest and Lillian is wearing his. I'd had to add extra length to Dan's vest to accommodate all the patches he was accumulating. Adult and child patches are the same size so a smaller vest could not hold them all. 

There were only two vests and three participants, plus those two vests were already covered in patches. I volunteered to make three new blank vests and was happily taken up on my offer. Here is the process for the newly sewn vests, starting with an old Simplicity pattern #7030 I had filed away. The Simplicity pattern company was founded in 1927 in New York City and is still around today, though merged and morphed with other companies. Based on the $11.95 price I doubt this specific pattern was too ancient. Besides when I went to use it, it had the original crisp, never-used, factory fold. It was not the one I originally used from thirty-odd years ago when Dan was about five. Packrat that I am, I probably do have that pattern squirreled away, but #7030 was the first one I could lay my hands on.

I could not find kettle cloth in any of my local fabric stores. It is what I used for the original vests but that fabric is not made any more. Instead I order cotton twill on line. It is a bit heavier that quilting cotton and so should be more durable. To personalize their vests, I ordered appliqués via the craft site Etsy and embroidered their Adventure Guides names on grosgrain ribbon. I cut out Dan's vest first. Dan's vest take up half the length of my cutting table and is a men's size L.

The story behind Dan's chosen name for Adventure Guides is that he was lying on the couch and the kids were jumping on him like in the book Hop On Pop. They were warned to be careful because dad was a delicate flower. Dan adopted the name Delicate Flower for his Adventure Guide's moniker. A sunflower is not exactly the most delicate of blooms. I had first bought a pink peonie-like bloom but it was too big so I switched to the smaller sunflower. I preferred the sunflower because the brown center went with the vest. Dan's dad also said it was more "bold and manly".

Nine year old Vivian's vest was a boy's size L. She is an avid reader and chose the name Bookworm. I made it two lines instead of one to match the appliqué.

For seven year old Lillian, I used a medium sized pattern and trimmed off the excess from the L size. She is an animal lover and chose the name Adventurous Dolphin. I was lucky to find a dolphin appliqué on Etsy.

By the way, I use Etsy a fair amount and wanted to know what the name stood for. Was it an acronym for something? From Wikipedia I learned

Kalin [a co-founder of the craft site Etsy] said that he named the site Etsy because he "wanted a nonsense word because I wanted to build the brand from scratch. I was watching Fellini's 8 ½ and writing down what I was hearing. In Italian, you say etsi a lot. It means 'oh, yes' (actually it's "eh, si"). And in Latin and French, it means 'what if'." In Greek, Etsy means "just because".

I delayed publishing this post in order to add pictures of Dan, Vivian, and Lillian in their vests. When I went to SoCal to visit last weekend, they tried them on and bummer... they were too small. Well they fit, but just barely, and they were not long enough to have room for many badges. I brought the three vests back home with me and I will make new ones or add length and width to these. The process is to be determined. But I least I brought all the badges home with me so I will be able to add them after enlarging the vests or making new ones. I will find a way to salvage and transfer the personalized appliqués and name ribbons.

Alameda County Fair Entries

For the 2023 Alameda County Fair I entered two quilts. Details on sewing the two quilts are in my 9/18/22 post for X Marks the Spot  and in my 5/12/22 post for Quilt by Number. When the fair ended and I retrieved the two quilts earlier this week, I remembered I had not published a post about their display. I'll admit I was a tiny bit bummed that I did not get any ribbons this year, not even an honorable mention, but it was still a source of some pride to see them hanging from the ceiling. I was curious to read the judges' comments when I picked them up. Entries are judged using the American System of Judging where exhibits are judged against each other. Judges may choose to omit a placing if it is believed to be without merit.

I enjoyed reading the positive ego-boosting comments from the judges. I re-typed them after the scanned labels since the minuscule font size may render them illegible.

XMARKS THE SPOT, ENTRY#4444

- Very effective design and color/fabric choices. The customized quilting is creative and upgrades the complexity of the piece.

- Piecing skills are beautifully showcased on this piece. The curves of the orange peel quilting soften the block design and fill the sashing space well. Some tension issues noted.

QUILT BY NUMBER, ENTRY#4445

- Strong quilt design complements the piecing to create a captivating piece.

- Very effective design and color/fabric choices. Quilting is exceptional and the customized quilting design enhances the overall pattern greatly.

I also take to heart the constructive criticisms from the hand-written slips attached to each quilt. Several comments pertained to the quilting. I do know that my quilting is still in its growth stage and has room for improvement, so there were no surprises there. I also scanned the judging slips and include them in this post.

Of course I prowled around to see what quilts did win ribbons. These two got 2nd place (tiny red dot in lower right corner of each).

These two got 1st place (tiny blue dot in lower right corner of each).

This 1st place quilt was awarded Best of Show.

Viewing the quilt entries at the fair is an annual tradition of mine. Seeing the variety is a source of wonder and inspiration, encouraging me to try new designs and ideas. Constructive criticism strengthens my resolve to work on improving skills in my weak areas to become a better quilter.

Tipus and Treetops - Backing

This post is continued from my previous post 6/30/2023 where I created the top for this quilt. Although grateful for people's input and interest, after due consideration I chose to make the quilt five blocks by five blocks. It called out to me to be square. Here it is wrapped around the corner of my design wall. I made three more blocks the same as others I'd made. Two extra blocks incorporated those stripes I like and I set them in the upper right diagonal to balance the two in the lower left diagonal. I had to unsew and resew the upper right corner block with the tipu (little bird) border to offset the height of the center correctly, but that was no great effort to do. Now those five landscape orientated centers undulate up and down in that top row, as in the middle and bottom rows. Rows two and four have portrait oriented centers that also subtly undulate down and up. The symmetry of this five by five array pleases me.

Although I had yards and yards of gray fabrics, the teal ones are more appealing and exciting. I had partial yards of the teal feature fabrics left over — not so much the "tulip" one but the tipus and trees and mesh. I decided to use them uncut and full width. I experimented with the placement and what looked best was the teal mesh on the bottom; positioned there it weighted the composition and acted like grass. Next the trees were in the middle; they are the most interesting and centrally placed are more of a focus. Tipus are on top like birds in the air. For the extra width I needed, I used the large graphic charcoal and white sunflower print, fussy cutting for symmetric sunflower placement.

I laid the top on the backing to be certain I have enough extra around the edges and I do. Enough of the backing peeks out above, below, and both sides of the top. I made up my binding from the striped fabric. 

Next I will make up the labels, but they will need to wait until I finalize the quilt name. Tipus and Treetops as a working title is certainly better than a boring Teal and Gray, but it does not recognize the sunflowers and woodland critters. Perhaps I can do better. Maybe not. I will have time to think it over since I am off for a weekend with grandkids and the Long Beach Quilt Festival. Labeling, layering, and quilting will be on hold for a while.