AIM - vesty

with TSW trio Tee

When Cutting Line Design's Artist In Motion (AIM) arrived, I thought I would start with the tunic. I'm still intrigued with shirts and I'm still taking Pam Howard's online course over on Craftsy.

But the vesty just kept rising to the top of the sewing queue, along with this Japanese cotton I purchased from Louise Cutting at an ASG event (Augusta, maybe?).

Plus, after reading through the directions, I thought this might be almost instant gratification. It wasn't instant but it was very gratifying.

It seems that I always purchase too little fabric, especially when it comes to something special. So I found that using the purchased 1 and 1/3 yard of 45 inch fabric required special maneuvers. The pattern envelope calls for 2 yards of 45 inch fabric.

I do love this kind of challenge. I'm thinking that's why I buy too little. Maybe. And I'm cheap.

with CLD's TBP

I was about to give up on this fabric for the vest when I remembered that Japanese designers sometimes place the selvage so that it shows. It is a kind-of designer's signature (chop), I think. And this is a pretty selvage.

So I cut the back as two pieces, each with the center on the selvage, overlapped the two selvages and stitched together. Since this is not a wash-and-wear item, I don't think the selvage will cause any drape issues. At the end, I added a little sashiko and some French knots to the back to highlight this.

I used radiance as the interlining and love it. It may become my go-to lining. So user-friendly with its blend of cotton and silk. It's a little pricey for lining though, so it probably won't become my lining go-to.

The binding is bias silk dupioni, always a favorite fabric for binding.

The vesty goes with several items I already have, including CLD's blouse perfected and TSW trio Tee. Now I'm ready to make the tunic, I think, in a light-weight coordinating corduroy.

But first a muslin of the tunic so that I can tweak the fit a bit. BTW, this vest is one-size-fits-most. How fun is that?