I had so much fun making a felted wool vest for Bracken for his birthday, that I decided to make another one, that I just posted in the shop. Instead of an apple tree like I did on Bracken’s vest, I decorated this vest with  whimsical daisies. When I posted more pictures of Bracken wearing his vest last week, a sweet reader named Mary Ann wanted to know again how I made it. I wrote a little how I made Bracken’s vest in this post, so I decided to write about this daisy vest and share the process with you. 

These felted wool vests are so fun to make! 

Here’s how:

Start with a wool sweater. Jeff and I get wool sweaters from the thrift store. Often times they have a moth hole here and there and don’t look like they’ll be worn much anymore, so we love to give them new life! After you’ve got your wool sweater, wash it in the washing machine on hot with some soap. It will shrink up and make the fibers nice and tight. Then I cut off the sleeves (which can be used to make legwarmers or leggings) and cut along the center front of the sweater. Then I felt it again in the washing machine (so the edges that I cut will be nice and felted too.) Each sweater will shrink differently. The sweater I used for Bracken’s vest shrunk up to the perfect size for a toddler (plus some room to grow) whereas the light blue sweater I felted for the daisy vest is a little big for a toddler and better suited for a small child to wear. Even both sweaters being 100% wool, they all turn out differently.

Once your sweater is dry, you can start decorating it and add your buttons. 

On Bracken’s vest, I cut out a tree and leaves out of wool felt and stitched those on with wool yarn. Then I needlefelted on some apples. (I wrote about how to needlefelt in this post.) On the daisy vest, I again cut out the shapes in wool felt and then stitched them on with wool yarn. (The wool felt I have was a gift, but you can purchase some here.) Then I added some of our handmade toggle buttons on both vests and made loops with wool yarn to attach to the buttons.

That’s it!

You’ve got a sweet wool vest to keep a little one nice, cozy, and wrapped up with handmade love!

 For the center of each daisy, I added buttons Jeff made in Oregon madrone wood. The wood had cracked, so we never sold the buttons. I set them aside to use on a crafting project someday. They were perfect on this kid’s vest for decorative purposes! I loved the warm hue and they matched the toggles so well.

 Jeff made the toggle buttons in reclaimed mountain mahogany wood. I love the red tones of this wood!

 And I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful the wood looked with the colors of the fall leaves in the background!

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So, that’s how to make a felted wool sweater. I’d love to see pictures of yours if you decide to make one. (And if you need buttons for it, we’ve got lots of WoolyMossRoots buttons in the shop right now!)

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On another note, I’m amazed that we have electricity right now. We’ve had wild storms last night and all today. We worked hard yesterday to prepare by getting caught up on laundry and dishes, making lots of food, storing water, and buying some propane. The weather forecast says hurricane force winds. Listening to it out there, I believe them.

We have our market booth set up in the house and are working to get it all ready. We are going to Eugene on Wednesday to set our booth up for the Holiday Market. Then Thursday, on Thanksgiving, we’ll be home getting last minute things ready (and eating good food of course.) Then Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we will be at the Holiday Market. If you are a local, we hope you’ll come visit us there! (Booth 216)

We’ve been busy elving to get that booth filled up with handmade goodness.
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Linking up with Nicole’s Keep Calm Craft On, on Frontier Dreams Blog.