Indian vest how to

ummm...the cutest picture ever!

I can remember in elementary school making an Indian vest for Thanksgiving. It wasn't nearly as cute as I wanted it to be, so I took an idea from Martha Stewart which she used in making a hide table cloth and applied it to this project. I took pictures so you all can make one too!

Supplies
1 paper grocery sack
3 ft brown or tan yarn
1 big blunt needle

1. You start with a brown paper grocery sack. If you follow the top edge around you will find a seam. start pulling the seam apart. You will have to be a gentle so you don't rip a random tangent instead of a nice clean line. When you get to the bottom there will be many seams, just be gentle and pull those apart too.
2. Crumple up the garbage sack and then un-crumple. Repeat this step multiple times. Probably do this for at least ten minutes. The more crumpling you do, the softer the paper gets and the more like leather it looks. It helps to flatten the paper and then start a fresh crumple session. Be sure to catch the edges. They tend to be more rough .3. This is what it should look like. It should feel very soft and when you pick it up it falls like fabric and not a stiff paper bag.

4.Next you tear pieces off. I laid it against Ben's body and kind of got a good direction. The pieces need to overlap, so that is why they are shaped this way. It also looks more authentic if the pieces are random.

5. I used tan yarn and a big blunt needle to "sew" together the pieces. I used Ben to lay the pieces on and find exactly where to sew them (shoulders, under arm, and back).

Here is the final project on my little Indian!

I also had requests to show Ben and Tayrien's blessing outfits side-by-side to compare.
Ben=left, Tayrien=right

Here is a closeup of Tayrien's bodice
yes there is bright red lipstick on the shoulder!