There was a moment in time where the three of us, our hubbies, and Daddy Vaid were all watching Sons of Anarchy at the same time. If you also watched the series, you know how addictive it was and every viewer’s obsession with Jax Teller (whether it be his character or his, uhm, stellar looks). Well, Dipti and Sachin binge watched the show during Dipti’s pregnancy and now, so fittingly, have decided to have baby Diav be a part of the Sons Of Anarchy Motorcycle Club for Halloween! There was no baby biker vest out there that fit Dipti’s vision, so she decided to do it herself! Here is a step by step guide on how she made the vest with the guidance of this great blogger!
Materials:
She wanted the vest to be super comfy as an 8 month old probably wouldn’t put fashion over comfort! So she got a fleece hoodie from Walmart (the cheapest she could find because it would end up getting chopped into pieces). Second, she ordered Image Transfer Sheets from Amazon. She also found one of Sach’s undershirts that he didn’t mind parting with, a pair of scissors, and a needle with white thread.
Preparation:
The Vest: Dipti looked at a million options for the vest – she ideally wanted a faux leather vest but didn’t think D would be too happy with it. So she decided to go with the zipper up fleece. She cut the sleeves off – close to but not at the seam. She so badly wanted to keep the hood on (and even did till the very end) but Sach vetoed that idea when he saw how good the back turned out. And that was all the preparation for the vest.
The Words & Symbol: Of course no DIY is ever smooth for Dipti. Her and Sach finally decided a few weeks ago to get a laser printer for all of Dipti’s projects but of course, when the transfer paper arrived, it was inkjet only. So after digging up an old inkjet printer, buying new cartridges, running a gazillion “nob cleaning” cycles, and printing a million test runs that all came out blue, they finally got it right. She downloaded the free font Carnival Freakshow which resembled the SOA logo the most. Then she designed the print out to make sure the sizing was right for the vest. She did several test sheets using plain white paper to align the words and reaper properly. Once she figured out the sizing, she placed all the words so that it would all fit on one piece of transfer paper. Of course she tailored the words just slightly to meet little D’s credentials – CA to NJ and Redwood to Oak Tree ;). Her template is below for your free downloading pleasure!
She then ironed the transfer paper on to Sachin’s shirt following the directions (the second time around). The first time she left the iron on too long and the words came out all yellow. The second time she ironed it on, (40 seconds as opposed to 4 minutes) it came out perfectly.
Putting it Together:
Once she finally got the words on to the shirt, she cut out each word and the reaper, leaving a 1/2 inch margin. Once everything was cut out, she placed each word in the right place and started sewing – the longest and toughest part. She sewed big stitches along the words and reaper to finish quickly and because it looked better with bigger stitches. Once that was done, she took a lint remover to the whole vest because the shirt and vest shed a ton once she cut them up. She took a few pictures of D wearing the vest to show you the finished product. However, follow her on Instagram to see the whole thing come together – she’s adding some bells and whistles to complete the costume which you’ll see Halloween day!
Anyone else going to join the SOA MC baby trend this year? Make sure you connect with us @runwaysandrattles / #runwaysandrattles… We cannot wait to see our munchkin as President of the Oak Tree SOA MC!!! 🙂
Power Point Template (you’ll need to download the free font Carnival Freakshow before using the template). If you want the same words as Diav’s vest, just save the images above!
