Schenk Sightings: Adventure Vest {tutorial}

A few weeks ago I was thinking about what I could make for a special boy in my life who was about to turn 4! This particular little boy loves to be outside exploring nature so I thought an adventure vest with lots of pockets for his treasures would be a fun idea.

I scoured the Internet for explorer vest tutorials and unfortunately I found very little help. I remembered this explorer vest from Homemade By Jill but she used an Oliver + S pattern. While this vest is super cute I am too ~~cheap~~ frugal to buy a whole book for 1 pattern. So my search continued and I found this felt frontier vest by MADE. Not quite the look I was going for but she did provide a free .pdf pattern for the vest shell. So I improvised creating a vest similar to the Oliver + S vest but using the MADE pattern.

So without further ado here is my my take on the explorer vest (my 1st tutorial so bear with me and feel free to ask questions).

Supplies:
1.5 in double fold bias tape
1/4 yard fabric (outer vest)
1/4 yard coordinating fabric (liner)
Sewing notions

Print and cut out patterns:
Visit MADE and print the vest pattern. Attach the 2 pages by aligning the arrows, do not overlap. This pattern is for size 2-4. For my project I extended the size by cutting about 1/4 inch outside the pattern lines. This will allow for a small seam allowance.

Click on the link HERE for a .pdf of the pocket patterns.

All seams in this tutorial are 1/4 inch unless noted otherwise.

Cut the fabric:
Fold the fabric and place the vest pattern with the long straight edge on the fold. Trace then cut. Continue until you have 2 back pieces (1 outer fabric and 1 liner fabric) and 4 front vest pieces (2 outer fabric and 2 liner fabric).

Then using the outer fabric cut 1 large pocket, 2 medium pockets, 2 small pockets, 1 large pocket flap and 2 medium pocket flaps.

And with the remaining liner fabric cut 1 large pocket flap and 2 medium pocket flaps.

Assemble pockets:
Take 1 outer fabric pocket flap and 1 liner pocket flap and pin them right sides together. Sew around the flap being careful to back stitch at the beginning and end and leave a 2-3 inch opening for turning.
Turn the flap by pushing the fabric through the opening.
Iron flat.

Top stitch around the pocket flap being careful to seal closed the opening.
Repeat this process for the 2 remaining pocket flaps.

To give the pockets a finished look iron each of the 4 sides with a 1/4 to 1/2 inch hem on the backside of the fabric. Then choose 1 side as the top of the pocket and sew a straight stitch down the hem. Repeat this process for all pockets.

Place the pockets on the vest at desired intervals. I placed the medium pockets on the front approximately 2 inches from the bottom of the vest. I placed the small pockets approximately 4 1/2 inches from the top of the vest. I placed the large pocket on the back of the vest approximately 2 inches from the bottom. Pin the pockets in place. Sew around 3 sides of the pocket. Do not sew the top side of pocket.

Pin the pocket flaps on the pockets. I overlapped the pockets and flaps approximately 1/2 inch. Sew across the top of the flap.

Attach lining:

Pin the back outer fabric and the back liner fabric right sides together. Start sewing at the bottom of the right arm hole.

Sew down the side, bottom, and other side. Ending at the bottom of the next arm hole. Be careful not to sew either arm holes. Then sew from shoulder to shoulder.

Next pin one outer front vest piece and one front liner piece right sides together. Start sewing at the top of the armhole (shoulder). Sew around the piece (shoulder, side, bottom, side) being careful to stop leave the arm hole open. Repeat the process with the other front piece.

Clip all the corners. Turn your 3 pieces right side out through the arm hole. Iron the back and 2 front pieces.

Assemble the vest:

Pin the 2 front pieces to the back of the vest (right sides together) at the shoulder. Sew across both shoulder pieces.

Then pin the front and back sides. Sew down each side.

Extra credit: this is not necessary, but I top stitched around the vest (being careful to leave the armholes open) to give it a professional finish.

And for the final step get out the bias tape. Pin the bias tape around the arm holes.

Once you reach the end of the circle cut the bias tape about 1 inch longer than needed. Then fold the extra 1 inch of bias tape under to hide the raw edge. Sew the bias tape around each armhole.

Extra credit: add buttons, snaps or a zipper. All of these finishing touches are fun but when I thought about it I knew no little boy would bother to close the vest. They are too busy looking for fun to be bothered with closures.

And here is the final product complete with a bug house, shovel, and magnifying glass to use with your adventures!