Making Due With What You Got, a Partial D.I.Y

I came home from the movies the other night itching to create something. There were a lot of factors that contributed to this surge, the proverbial straw had been a series of really compelling short films. The collection were this years nominees in the Best Short Live Action category at the Oscars. Without a camera I seriously lacked the ability to create a short film of my own, so I busted out my sewing machine which has been blatantly ignored since my last d.i.y. post. For quite some time I have pined for a quilted sweater. Coming home I found no fabric suitable to create what I wanted, nor did I find the energy to make the fabric myself. Instead I took a favorite sweater and using it as a base, I created a shell like cotton top. Had my initial intention been to create a post about this project I may have been more diligent in photo taking, or at least created a step by step process, but that has not been how I have created in the past. If you are interested in recreating the entire top than please feel free to let me know and I will try and recreate the process as well as I can.

For now I will share the one quilted detail I made. It could be argued that the whole top was made just for these shoulder details, or the other way around (chicken versus that egg). It has been the sweater of my subconscious for sometime. A little fabric tweaking and I might argue it's exactly what I've been searching for, but, I was werking with what I got. Here is to the revision process and everything you discover along the way!

I had initially intended for these to be arm patches. I found they suited the shoulders more but don't let that limit you!

Materials
Four oval shaped fabric scraps (the pieces I used already had a criss-cross pattern which made the quilting bit all the easier). Don't worry if the ovals have uneven edges you will be turning them inside out so the shape can be perfected at a later step.

Two pieces of felt in the same shape/size (if your fabric is transparent you have the option to play with this color or get felt that matches, just something to be aware of!)

Scissors

Chalk

Your Sewing Machine

Step 1
First measure out the size/shape you want the patches to be. I arbitrarily started cutting and it turned out to my liking but there is nothing wrong with being cautious!

Step 2

Once you have your fabric ovals and felt ovals pin one of the felt pieces to one of the fabric ovals and attach. My suggestion here is to sew with the felt side facing up. It provides a more even stitch if you have an unruly machine like mine.

 ,

Step 3
At this point you should have two ovals with felt and two with out. Take your last two oval fabric pieces and attach them to the fabric side of the oval leaving a little opening so that when you are able to turn the whole piece inside out. Feel free to attach the fabric to the felt side if you'd like frayed edges!

Step 4
Through the opening that you left pull the oval inside out so that there is fabric on both sides. Tuck in the open edge and sew a circle around the edge so that the seam is sealed.

Step 5
At this point I simply sewed over the existing pattern on the fabric. If you would like the same 'quilted look' you can draw out a criss cross pattern with chalk and then simply sew over the lines. I found that the side of the fabric facing down ended up looking more 'quilted.' If you have a preference for which side is showing, make sure that side is on the underside when sewing out your quilted pattern.

Step 6
Attach to whatever you want wherever you want it!