Finished Project: Stripe Vest (picture Heavy!)

This is vest 125B from Burda Magazine October 2010. The pattern has illustrated instructions, which I found mildly useful. There’s always a bit of deciphering involved with BOWF patterns but with a bit of experience and common sense it’s not that complicated.

As soon as I saw it I knew I had the right fabric in my stash to make it.
The fabric is an end of roll purchased back in Paris a few years ago. It’s %100 wool. It's really soft and warm. I originally considered making a long skirt but when I saw this pattern I fell in love. I can’t help it, I love vests….

The lining is a cotton/silk blend also purchased in Paris. I had 3 meters of it so I have plenty left for possibly more linings and maybe a blouse (not sure yet if I would like to wear this on the outside).

I made a muslin for the vest a little while ago. It’s a “petite” pattern and I haven’t had much luck with those in the past (remember this jacket, and the dress from here). But this time around I managed to make all the alterations I needed and I’m very satisfied with the result.

I cut the facing on the cross-grain as I liked the stripe orientation better

I added 2 inches to the length, made a small back alteration, moved the back darts and made a small bust adjustment to the princess seams.
On the original pattern the hem is straight (parallel to the ground), but after sewing the back it still felt too short, so I kept the front a bit longer (only kept 1.5 cm hem allowance at center front), so the sides slant a bit, which I like. I do wish it was a tad bit longer (maybe an inch), but I already love it as is.

Instead of making ties in self fabric as the pattern instructed, I purchased some navy grosgrain ribbon, which brings out the hint of blue in the grey of the fabric.

This project came together surprisingly fast (for my records anyway). The longest part was the cutting: it took me 3 hours because I had to figure out the stripe placement and matching at the princess seams – even though it wouldn’t match everywhere, I wanted to find the best possible match, so I cut all front pieces and facing separately. instead of cutting the collar pieces on the fold I added a center back seam to be able to match the stripes in with the rest of the vest in the front.
Another design detail I chose was to cut the back yoke on the cross-grain so that the stripes would be horizontal and bring some interest to the back.

Buttons are, as usual, from Button Buttons. The second longest part was hand-sewing the front hem, the lining front edge as well as the 13 (!) buttons (12 in the front and 1 hidden on the facing). Once again I went to Spool of Thread to make the buttonholes. Totally worth the $4 spent there (for ½ hour).

When I first put it on after sewing everything together, I noticed some excess fabric along the princess seams between the shoulder and the bust, but even that was super easy to fix.

All together, this project only took about 15 hours total (muslin not included) spread over two weeks. I only took out my seam ripper a couple of times (another record).

So aside from my Sorbetto, this is probably my easiest project to date. And dare I say – it might be my favorite me-made garment so far. This vest just looks so great (to me anyway). It goes perfectly with jeans, which are my go-to pants 80% of the time (and especially with my above $5 skinny Levi’s from ValueVillage!) but I’m pretty sure it would go great over a dress or with a skirt…

This project totally gave me a sewing moral boost. Next up: a spring blouse inspired by this one, for which I might have to do a lot of drafting myself!