The Vest
I wanted to take things up a few notches from the apron for my next project. It’s not that the apron was necessarily easy for a beginner, but let’s face it, there are really only three main pieces, which all lay flat on each other. I needed something complicated, something with armholes! I knew my limits and wasn’t about to try making sleeves for the first time. Since I’m not really a toga kind of guy, I decided to try making a vest. I used McCalls pattern 2447. I feel that the style of the pattern is a little dated, which is the case for almost all patterns for men’s clothing. Trying to find patterns for garments that I would actually wear is frustrating and next to impossible, but eventually I want to be designing/making my own patterns anyway.
Unless you count the polar fleece version I wore in middle school, (yikes…!) I’ve never worn a vest. And come to think of it, I definitely won’t be wearing this one either (note the masculine floral lining [with a hint of sarcasm] among other problems). I left off the buttons for now. We misplaced the manual for the sewing machine, which has the instructions for the button hole settings.
My wife had the fabric for the lining laying around and I figured that this was just for practice anyway, so why not use it. This stuff was REALLY hard to work with. I think it is some sort of polyester blend that makes it difficult to mark, fold, sew, and look at for that matter. The front of the vest is muslin of course.
I had to learn how to hand sew a slip stitch to close up the side.
Now that the vest battle is over, I think I’m ready to tackle sleeves. I have a pattern for a men’s long sleeve button down shirt that is next on the chopping block.
