Sleeveless hooded vest tutorial & free pattern (size 18-24 months)

Yay, I finished my first tutorial ever! As promised, I'll share my sleeveless hooded vest with you guys. I just hope I explained the steps clear enough for you to follow,at least I had a lot of fun making this tute, it's even finished quicker than I expected.

The fabric I use for the vest is mainly sweater fabric, but heavy knits work great as well. I based the body part on a shirt that fitted well on little rascal and made a pattern (18-24 months) you can download here. If you want to make a smaller or bigger size you can draft your own pattern using a current shirt of your child (there are tons of good tutorials out there) and sizing my hood pattern up or down. I used a seam allowance of 1 cm except for the hemming of the body where I used 1,5 cm.

Okay let's start by printing, taping and cutting the pattern pieces. Choose the option no scaling when you print. Now you have a front and back part of the body, the hood (2 mirrored pieces in main fabric and two mirrored pieces in lining) and the cuffs.

1 Take the back panel with the right side facing up. Lay the front panel on top with right side facing down. Match up along shoulder seam and sew together.

2 Sew the side seams of the front and back panel.

3 Turn right side out and press the seams.

4 Take two hood pieces in main fabric and place right sides together lining up all edges and sew together.
5 Repeat this step for the hood lining.

6 Take the main hood with the wrong side out. Take the hood lining and place it in the main hood so that the outside edges are lined up and right sides are facing together.

7 Pin into place and sew together along the outside edge.

8 Turn right side out and press edge.

9 Lay body down (right side out), take the hood and place on top with the hood edge facing up, lining up the raw edge with the neckline and the centre seam of the hood with the centre of the back panel.

10 Pin into place and start pinning the right part of the hood all around the neckline.

11 Repeat for the left side of the hood, in front they will overlap.

12 Sew along the neckline all around, make sure you go through all 5 layers of fabric in the front.

13 Cut cuffs, fold with the right side together. Sew the side seam with the wrong side out.

14 Fold over so the wrong side is on the inside, you’ll have a two layer band.

15 Pin the band around the armhole lining up the raw edges, start by lining the centre seam of the cuff with the sideseam.

16 Sew all around and press. (sorry I forgot to take pictures of these steps).

17 Fold the bottom over 2 cm and press, sew all the way around with a seam allowance of 1,5 cm from the bottom.