Soft Armour

a new garment made from leftovers and class samples

Whenever I see images of fantastic patchwork garments being worn at quilt shows I always think ‘I must try harder to make something for myself’. But usually I run out of time before the event takes place.

But not this year! This year you will see me coming from quite a long way off at Festival of Quilts in this hooded vest!

I saw this pattern on Instagram a few months back and immediately wanted to make it. I loved the hood and the simplicity of the construction. It’s called Soft Armour and it’s by Justice McNeil Sumser better known as Thread and Sprout on Instagram.

I loved it even more when I read the designer’s thoughts behind it, “Inspired by chainmail hoods, helmets, and heraldry-adorned tabards worn by knights of ye olde times, but made of soft, squishy, warm quilted fabric. A wearable reminder to not harden your heart even though the world is hard.”

One of my current obsessions is medieval history so this was pushing all my buttons. Even more so when Justice brought some magic into it and described the garment as “a fabric spell of protection and something to remind you of safety” and encouraged us to weave in our own spells of protection as we made it.

When I bought the pattern I had no clear idea what I would use to make it. At the same time I had just finished my Liminal Space Medallion BOM quilt for Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine and as well as left over fabrics I had some spare blocks and some trial blocks that didn’t make the final design. I had put these aside to maybe use for a mini quit later.

I really love the Windham Artisan Cottons and especially the palette I had chosen for that quilt so I’ve been using it for almost every new project since.

I wanted some in-progress EPP to help illustrate the Flower Sewing Bag class I am teaching at The Thread House Academy later in the year so I used Karen’s gorgeous Atelier EPP pattern to create this lovely piece (above). I was thinking this would look fabulous on the back of a denim jacket when the idea struck me that I could use it and all my Liminal Space leftovers for the Soft Armour!

I just needed a bit more time in the schedule and maybe one more block for the front. I then started work on my latest TTH Academy class Moon Trees and realised that a Moon Tree panel would be perfect for the front of the garment. And what better protection to weave in than my beloved trees!

I put together the front and back panels a few weeks back but only managed the hood a few days ago. It’s been a busy summer with lots of trips away and my latest was to Romsey Quilt Festival where I taught a couple of workshops, one of which was Supernova Stardust. Of course I chose the same fabrics for my class samples. I’m working on something new with most of these but I still had a couple of spare bits I didn’t need and these formed the basis of the hood (along with some improv stripes that didn’t work out for the quilt design).

Once all the panels were complete I quilted then on my domestic machine using ‘random plaid’ grid and a pale aqua shade of Aurifil 28wt thread. I used the same flannel for the wadding as I used for my 100 Days of Mini Stitch Wanderings quilt to keep the pieces as light as possible.

The construction was very quick and mainly involves lots of bias binding. I chose to use a button with an elastic loop rather than the press studs suggested in the pattern.

I love how this turned out! It’s much more versatile for wearing to shows than a quilted jacket and the cropped length is perfect for a little person like me. And I think the hood just makes it look extra cool (though I doubt I will actually wear it up!).

I will feel like a walking work of art when I am wearing this and I think it perfectly conveys my style of quilting. Plus I now feel thoroughly protected!