Colonial Vest

Here is another Colonial Vest worn for dancing.  It is cotton for breathability.

Flaps cover functioning pockets.

Thin ribbon and machine button holes.

Colonial Dancing Vest

 

A customer of mine from at least 20 years ago, asked me to copy his old vest that I had originally made for him.  It was fun seeing it again and seeing how my methods have evolved over time.  The new vest is pictured here with Alice.

 

I like the back lacing because it makes it adjustable.

My current machine makes nice eyelets so I used them instead of buttonholes.

Feline Friday-Fabric Collage Vest

Here is my finished fabric collage vest using Rosemary Eichorn's Sewjourner vest #6!

I am really happy with how it turned out.  I've already worn it and I got lots of good feedback on it.

I left off the buttons because it didn't seem to need them.  Plus, I like both the fronts and

didn't want to cover one up.

The back View.  You can see a little of the lining- I added the red flower for fun.  The slice of orange sun is peeking through the trees.

I added little animals in my magical forest.  A cat and below is a snail.

A bird is in one of the trees.  When it came time to bind the vest, this bird was too close to the edge.

I didn't want to lose her tail, so I cut the binding at that point.

This shows the raw front edge meeting the bound edge.  The whole vest is free motion quilted.



Book Review: Koos Couture Collage

It is so hard to sew during the summer with my kids home, so I was rooting around in my closet and found this vest I made a few years ago.

I was inspired by "Koos Couture Collage" by Linda Chang Teufel.  Published in 2002, 107 pages of beautiful examples of clothes by Koos van der Akker. 

He does a lot of applique and bias binding, both of which can be tricky.  The leather leaf wanted to stretch while I was sewing it and going around circles with bias requires patience.

I free hand cut the leaves.  I like the challenge of using what is already in my sewing room.  Can you believe I didn't buy anything for this project?

 

This is the back view.  Originally, I thought I would make it reversible, but I changed my mind.  The lining is striped.

Then, a year later, I was in a thrift store and saw this Koos sweater jacket!  He sells on QVC. 

It was neat to see an original Koos in person after drooling over the pictures in the book!

Vest into Wallhanging

A customer of mine loved this vest but didn't want to wear it.  She came up with the idea to make it a wall hanging.  I cut the back off and saved the fabric.  I removed the buttons.  I used the neck band and back fabric to fill in the neck area.  Then I cut off the side bands and added some fabric squares to make it longer and then reattached the bands. 

There was enough of the back fabric to make a rod pocket and binding for the edges.She was thrilled with the results!  (My cat likes it too.)

Serger Sample Vest

A serger is a sewing machine that sews, trims and finishes the seam all at once. It is extremely handy for garment sewing. A couple of years back, I took a class on other, more decorative, applications. This is a vest I made during class. There are ribbons inserted in the stitches.

Flat locking with decorative thread and rolled hemming.

It is amazing everything a serger can do! You can even quilt with one (although, I admit I use my regular machine for that!)