Vanguard! For a Biking Shirt!

Pattern - Love Notions Vanguard Kit long sleeve tee
Skill Level - confident beginner
Fabric - Discovery Fabrics Polartec Delta
Skills - Colour blocking

My grandson is turning 9 in a few weeks.   For part of his present, he said he wanted a biking shirt with padded elbows.  I knew that I couldn't possibly make something that would give him proper protection, but my son assured me that what he really wanted was a shirt with a moto look.

- like the Moto Maxx pants I'd made him the previous year.  Okay - that I can do! (Click on any picture to see it in more detail.)

The Fabric

I had the perfect fabric on hand.  He loves athletic fabrics and Discovery Fabrics specializes in athletic fabrics.  I had 3 colours of Polartec Delta sitting on the shelves - marine blue, apple green and grey - and decided to use them all.

Polartec Delta is a wonderful fabric and I had previously used it to make competition shirts for my son and his training partner.

It's highly breathable, has superior wicking properties, regulated drying, reduced clinging, odor control and is highly durable.  You can see from the picture above that it's also constructed to pull moisture away from your body. Just what my hot-bodied grandson needs.

The Pattern

The Vanguard Kit is one of my most-used patterns.

There are all kinds of options built right in - even colour blocking.  But the colour blocking I had in mind, I was going to have to figure out myself.

Colour Blocking

I drew up and coloured a design of what I had in mind and then printed off and cut out the plain fronted shirt with long sleeves.

Then I drew lines on the pattern pieces and wrote the colour on each section also making a note of where I would have to add 3/8" for seam allowance.  I cut double the middle grey sleeve sections, because it was going to have moto stitching on it.  That was going to be the padded portion.

After cutting the colour block sections, I placed each colour with its fabric.  I was ready to cut out.

I didn't add a seam allowance as all my lines were going to be straight.  I used my ruler as the guide to add the seam allowance.

You can see on this piece that the seam allowances are all there.

Sewing

I worked on the front first.

I laid all the pieces out in order and working from the bottom up, pressing the seam allowance up (and I used a pressing cloth so the fabric wasn't damaged) and topstitched as I went.  The diagonal blue section was added last and topstitched.

Then on to the sleeves.

I laid them out just as I did with the front with the grey section being two layers, pressing the seams up and topstitching.

For the moto stitching, I drew lines with tailor's chalk.

I stitched the lines on my coverstitch machine.  I could have used my regular sewing machine, but I wanted this section of the sleeve to have lots of stretch.  I used a notch on my foot as my guide in stitching.

So here is what the sleeve looks like front and back.

Now with all the piecing done, all I had to do was sew up the pieces, put on the neckband and hem.  Sounds like a lot of work, but it only took me a morning.  I know my grandson will love his new biking shirt.  He loves this fabric and he'll appreciate all the amazing properties which will keep him cool and dry while he's out on the mountain biking trails.  If you don't already have this pattern, you can get it from my affiliate link below.  And do check out Discovery Fabrics for all the amazing products they carry.

Love Notions Vanguard Kit
Discovery Fabrics

Panels and Borders and Patterns - oh my!

Patterns - multiple Love Notions patterns - links at the bottom of the page
Fabric - l'oiseau fabrics
Skills - working with panels and borders

It will come as a surprise to no one who knows me that I'm a little obsessed with panel and border fabrics!  This is probably an extension of my love of all kinds of puzzles, and hence my "handle" of puzzlnut!  I love a challenge and getting the most out of a beautiful panel or border is an exciting one.

Love Notions has lots of patterns that are tailor made for panels - and l'oiseau fabrics has the panels and border prints to perfectly complement them.  Let's looks at a few patterns first and then we'll talk about making the most of those panels.

Some panels are small enough to get a perfect little shirt and the L'il LDT in size 5 is wonderful for displaying all of the components that this zebra panel had and still leave large scraps for other projects.

Sometimes a panel must be pieced so you can get the whole project out of one panel.  This amazing bear and rabbit panel was picked by my grandson to make him a hoodie.  This particular panel was big - as in about 60" x a yard and a quarter!

The Vanguard Kit has options for colour blocking that allowed me to get a size 7 hoodie by taking advantage of the sleeve options.  I was even able to squeeze lining for the hood from the panel! I'm told it's my grandson's favourite shirt!

You can even make alterations to a pattern to get the most out of your panel.  I extended the Hazelwood Hoodie to a dress length to get the most out of the panel my granddaughter picked out.  Don't be fooled by her serious expression - she loves the hooded dress!

The picture at the top of the page is a beautiful border print which is no longer carried.  The Terra Tunic, with the mini alteration of making the front and back pieces the same length, worked perfectly to display the panel and give me a unique garment that always gets me compliments.

I used the Terra Tunic recently to make a shirt for my daughter who loves fantasy fiction.  I did cheat a bit as I had scraps left from making a shirt for an order which allowed me to get 3/4 sleeves.  I could have gotten short sleeves without it and still make the XXL shirt from the Terra Tunic pattern.

Here's the front.

And the back.

And then there's the La Bella Donna - with a few alterations it was perfect for this border print.  I evened the hem and put in a scoop neck - just because I like a scoop neck.  I also cut the sleeve cuffs from the border print.  This shirt is definitely one of my favourites to wear!

If there's not quite enough fabric to complete the garment, you have to find something that will echo colours in the panel  I used the Rockford Raglan to make this shirt for my daughter-in-law.

My original thought was red sleeves and neckband to echo the red in the umbrella, but my daughter-in-law preferred grey and I must say I agree with her choice as it doesn't detract from the panel.

Another pattern that is perfect for border prints and panels is the Prisma and it's what I used for this size 10 dress for a customer.  I'll use it to demonstrate how to get the most out of your panel.

The Prisma was perfect for this particular panel as it allowed me to get the front and back of the dress from the long tree/donkey pieces.

The first thing you need to do is to find the visual centre of the piece you're going to cut.

For me, the visual centre was right at the edge of the donkey's hat.

Now fold the fabric evenly along that line and see if your pattern piece will fit.

And the narrow a-line profile of the Prisma fit perfectly!

I've shown you a few patterns and how they worked with panels and I list them below, but there are more  You can click on any of my affiliate links below to get these patterns if you don't already have them.  And if you're looking for amazing panels, check out l'oiseau fabrics as they have a wonderful selection! A great pattern paired with a great panel, add a little imagination and you've got a unique one-of-a-kind garment.  Give it a try!

Love Notions Terra Tunic
Love Notions Rockford Raglan for Ladies
Love Notions La Bella Donna Top & Tunic
Love Notions Vanguard Kit
Love Notions L'il LDT for Girls
Love Notions Prisma Dress
Love Notions Hazelwood Hoodie