Faux Leather Vest

The eleventh piece of my 12-piece wardrobe is a faux leather vest.  When I first started sewing this wardrobe, I did not intend to make a faux leather vest.  I knew I would probably make a vest, but I did not intend to use faux leather.  As I planned this wardrobe, I searched my fabric stash before making each piece.  If I had something in my stash that would work, I used that instead of buying more fabric.  When I searched for fabric for the vest, I found faux leather yardage and back and front yoke pieces.  I remembered sewing triple pin tucks many years in a piece of faux leather and then cutting out yokes for a vest.  However, I got distracted and never made the vest.  Apparently, I never cut the other pieces of the vest and I was not able to find the vest pattern I used.

I searched my pattern stash and found Kwik Sew 3172.  This pattern had princess seams, front and back yokes, and a zipper.  This was exactly what I needed.  It wasn’t lined, but I knew I could add a lining.  And best of all, I could use the old yokes to cut the yoke pieces in the Kwik Sew pattern.   I was excited to be able to finish a project I started years ago.

I found the zipper for this vest in my zipper stash.  Yes, I even have a zipper stash.  Most people who sew over a long period of time collect fabric and sewing notions of all kinds.  And I have being sewing since I was seven years old.  That is my excuse and I am sticking to it!  Anyway, I purchased a zipper a couple of years ago when I took a purse class from Linda McGehee.   Linda sells patterns, zippers and other notions at Ghees.com.  The zipper I used is a variegated coil one.  I had no idea at the time how I would use the zipper, but I bought it anyway.  The colors in the coil go well with the colors in this wardrobe, so I decided to use it.

The lining for the vest also came from my fabric stash.  I have no idea how many years I have owned this fabric or where I purchased it.  It is just plain black lining fabric, but exactly what I needed for the vest.

When I sewed the lining, I decided not to serge the edges because they would be enclosed in the vest and would not ravel.  That statement is true if you are referring to not raveling after it is sewed together.  However, when I tried to turn the vest right side out through the side seams, the lining started raveling.  Then it was difficult to hand sew the side seams of the lining together.  Lesson learned. 

This is a vest that did not want to be made.  It fought me through the entire sewing process.  Now that it is finished, I will tell you it is not 4-H ready.  Any of you that ever made a sewing project for 4-H will know what I mean.  It has lots of flaws and it is white ribbon quality!  However, I do like the pintucks.   I refuse to rip it out and redo it.  It is not worth the effort for me.  I can live with a little imperfection.

I am not a perfectionist.  The older I get, the more I realize that I now sew for pleasure.  I like to create, but I will not stress myself out if things don’t turn out perfectly.  By the way, how many articles of clothing have you purchased off the rack that was perfect and fit you perfectly?  Anyway, I realize that I will not be wearing this vest a lot, but it is wearable as it is; so, I will enjoy it for a while and be happy that the fabric is gone from my stash.  I do have a little faux leather left, but I have no plans to make it into a garment.  It may be made into a bag sometime in the future.

A picture of the vest Is shown below along with a closeup of the pin tucks.

 

 

I hope your sewing projects are going well.  Don’t worry if they are not perfect.  Learn from your mistakes and move on.  Sewing is meant to be fun and relaxing.  Enjoy it for what it is!

Judy

 

 

Jeans

Finally, the 10^th piece of the 12^th Piece Wardrobe is completed.  What a relief it was when I sewed the finally stitches of the grape jeans.  I have worked on the jeans for a while because I had trouble finding all the pieces of the pattern I used the last time I made jeans.  I found lots of pieces, but I wasn’t sure which pieces were the final, “after fitting the pattern”, pieces.  I tried to make sure this time that I marked all changes I made to the pattern and had one clean, dated pattern preserved for the next time I want to make jeans.

I used a grape denim purchased from Zinck’s Fabrics in Ligonier, Indiana.  I never intended to use that color in the twelve-piece wardrobe that I am constructing, but I was immediately drawn to the fabric as soon as I saw it.  Maybe it was because I had never seen denim in that color.    I knew that if I chose grape as one of the main colors, it would make getting 72 outfits from 12 pieces even more difficult.  But I decided to do just that!

I used the “Eureka! Pants that Fit” pattern along with the “Sporty Details for the Eureka! Pants that Fit” pattern.  The Sporty Details explains how to use your pants pattern from the Eureka! Pants that Fit pattern to make jeans.  I especially like this pants pattern because it gives three different pants backs and you choose the back that most closely represents your derriere.  Back 1 is for people with a very flat derriere.  Back 2 is for a round derriere and Back 3 is for generous derriere.  Choosing the right back piece for you can make it easier to fit the back and the crotch n my

It is definitely more time consuming to make jeans than it is to make pants because there are more parts.  It also takes more time to do the top stitching.  For me, it is worth the time and effort because I can make jeans that fit me better than the ones I can buy.  They may not fit perfectly, but they do fit better.

A closeup shot of one of the back pockets is shown below.  I used one of the stitches in my sewing machine and stitched it with a variegated top stitch thread.

 

Pictures of the finished jeans are shown below.

 

 

Now I can work on sewing the last two pieces of the 12-piece wardrobe.  I plan to make a vest and a skirt.  Hopefully, they won’t take as much time as the jeans did!  I do have to fit a pattern for both and fitting is the most time-consuming part of sewing.   Thankfully, fitting a vest and a skirt will take a lot less time than fitting jeans.

I hope you are trying some new summer patterns.  Remember to record all your changes to

any pattern you are fitting on a permanent copy.  That way, your pattern will be ready to use the

next time you need it.

 

Judy

 

 

 

Ninth Piece of 12-Piece Core Wardrobe

I just completed the ninth piece of the 12-piece core wardrobe I have been sewing for a presentation for the Lansing Clippers in September.  I am anxious to complete it because there are so many other projects I want to make.  I used the ABB (Anything But Basic) tee pattern by the DIBY Club which is now owned by Copper Creek Patterns.  I used a soft green knit similar to a French terry knit from the now defunct JoAnn Fabrics.

There is nothing difficult about making a tee top, so this project went together quickly.  It did take a little longer than usual because I added some embroidered fall leaves to the front of the top.  I never attempt to add an embroidered design to anything without doing a sample first.  I used some iron-on tricot interfacing on the back of the knit to stabilize it.   I placed a lightweight tear-away stabilizer and a web mesh cut-away stabilizer in the embroidery hoop.  I placed a sheet of water-soluble topping on the tee top. 

The embroidery sample was really stiff!  I decided not to use the tear-away stabilizer on the embroidery on the shirt.  I still used the iron-on tricot interfacing on the back of the knit fabric and I used the web mesh cut-away in the hoop and placed a piece of the water-soluble topping on the shirt.  The design is still a little stiff, but it will be okay. 

A picture of the shirt is shown below with a close-up of the embroidery design.

 

Do you have your summer wardrobe ready?  It looks like we may actually experience warm and sunny weather in Michigan soon!

Judy