The Vest Version of Vogue 1970

After completing the jacket version in pinwhale corduroy, and wearing it a bunch, I knew that I had to make the vest. There is not much that is different about the vest beyond omitting sleeves. The package includes a slightly different collar for it, but all else is identical.

Vogue 1970 by Marcy Tilton

Since I found the jacket neckline to stand a bit far from my neck on the jacket, I made an easy adjustment, bringing it closer to my neck on the shoulder seams. The pattern description describes these as companion or nesting pieces, but that did not turn out to be the case for me. Anyway I do love a vest during the winter months here in the southeastern USA. 

I had this primitive table runner from Common Threads in Taos NM that needed to become something. BTW, that is such an interesting store. They sell some fabrics by the yard, and lots of table linens, scarves, and a few simple linen garments. The pieces are from overseas with lots from India and Central America. The owner gives a little discount to those of us attending Diane Ericson's Design Outside the Lines. I attended one in September 2023.

This piece is actually narrow (maybe 5") loomed pieces that were hand-stitched together, almost 36" wide. A black thread with a simple overcast stitch was used and it's a little rough in places. This also meant it was a bit fragile to handle. So I carefully cut each piece out, one at a time, taking each to the sewing machine and stitching around each piece at the stitching line. I also carefully serged the edges. The combination seems to have given it enough stability to sew.

Since it was still soft and fragile feeling to me, I underlined it with Thai silk remnants from Laura Murray. I'm sad to report that she no longer sells that fabric. And she no longer comes to the Sew Expo here in Atlanta. Boo.

The underlining gave it just the right amount of body, I think. Also, due to my choice of *fabric* I folded out the little pleats over the hips. I am glad I did. The look is much smoother and more appropriate to this fabric.

I used some remnants of another piece of Laura Murray's Thai silk to make bias facing for the armholes and the hem, as well as front facings on the straight of grain. And I used some cotton batiste remnants for the pocket. That's right, just one pocket. 

While cutting the pieces out, I was careful to preserve a longish piece to fashion into a collar. The collar is the width of three of the strips hand-stitched together and the length of the circumference of the neckline. This meant that I had selvedge on both edges of the collar, making it easy to stitch each edge to the neckline without a lot of bulk. 

After a few tests, I was brave enough to make buttonholes in the front, using some funky buttons purchased years ago, probably at a Sew Expo. I placed one button at the neckline, attached with a Thai silk bias tube. 

I am pretty pleased with this. It has a nice weight to it, but is soft and comfy. Like the green jacket version, I'll have to be careful to avoid wearing it every day!

First Make of the Year

My first make of the year happened fast, even for me. I finished it the evening of January 1!

It was a very easy make. I spent more time figuring out what to make than I did actually making it. I'm still not sure I made the right decision. But this is most definitely one of those cases where Finished is Better than Perfect.

Looks like a tablecloth here!

It started when a sweet friend at church said she had something to show me. A friend of hers had brought her a length of fabric from Viet Nam and she didn't know what to do with it, so she wanted me to "make something." And pay me. Not that payment does much to motivate me these days.

Instead of saying no, I said I'd think about it. And I took it home. Bad idea. Now it was too late to say no. Really. So I said to her, how about a scarf? Or a tote? Or a top? She said, you choose - you know best.

This piece of fabric is, shall we say, unusual. It is pretty clearly hand-woven and prone to massive raveling. I initially thought it must be cotton, but a burn test confirmed polyester. It makes me a little sad to think that some hard-working artisan had to use such materials to hand-weave this piece. The weave itself is quite lovely with a striped effect on either end, and pure plaid in the center.

It was 36" wide and almost 2 yards long, too small for many projects I initially visualized. I finally managed a hack of the Sewing Workshop Hudson top, view A.

Even so, I did not have enough for that cowl collar. I redrafted the neckline, applying a favorite facing technique. I used a red linen remnant for the neckline and sleeve hem facings.

I tried it on, just to see. I really don't mind sending it off to its rightful owner.

I'm delivering it tonight and I have no idea at all what to charge. Another good reason to avoid these situations!

Tabula Rasa Indeed

Tabula rasa means blank slate. And that is how I used it with this garment.

the plain version

This wonderful piece of fabric has been marinating in my stash for a number of years. It is a cross weave in light green and bright royal blue. It was purchased from Spanglish Fabrics. She travels to Guatemala and brings back gorgeous hand-woven fabric to sell. It's perfect for bags. There is not a lot of drape and it feels just a little coarse. But this piece needed to be a garment.

the cross-weave needed to be highlighted

Often I find that my sewing goal is to feature the fabric, even though this one is essentially a solid color. The Tabula Rasa pattern involves mostly narrow pieces, so it was just right for this 36" wide fabric. The sleeves on the pattern are the largest piece and I had to be careful to make sure I'd have enough for them. I did end up piecing the collar band with a small patch at the center back. You see it in the above picture because it is cut cross-grain and the rest of the band is cut on the length-wise grain.

Once finished the jacket was quite plain. It needed something. My first step to was to add the square patch at the back neckline. I had already added the little bias loop in the collar band seam.

I love working with bias binding and bias tubes and often look for spots to use them. Because this fabric does not have much give, I had to make some samples, particularly of the tubes. Below is a picture of my tubes and tools. I always start by trying to turn the tube with the Fasturn tube turner. It involves a metal tube and metal wire that slides inside the metal tube. There is a sharp pointed corkscrew shape on the end of the metal wire. So you cut the bias stripe and then stitch it together. For this particular fabric, I settled on a 1.25 inch wide bias strip, a 0.4 zig-zag stitch (otherwise the stitches pop when you're turning the tube), and I stitched it 3/8 inch from the fold (not from the raw edge).

Because this is hand-woven, the cork-screw end of the wire slipped out when I was mid-way through turning it. Dang. Luckily I was able to use the hemostat to reach inside the tube, grab the end and pull it the rest of the way out. I used both tools on every tube.

Then I fetched my favorite instructions for making a Chinese knot: Sandra Betzina's Power Sewing. I find her instructions to be the easiest to follow. And I never remember how it's done in advance! Here you can see how it starts:

The long end is off to the left.

This is how it looks after an *over* and an *under* with the long end:

At this point it's symmetrical and rather pretty, I think. I've been tempted to transfer this shape to a garment for embellishment, but I never have. The final step is to draw it up into a round knot. This take some finagling because it wants to draw up unevenly. It helps to have finger nails.

In the end I decided on a single Chinese knot closure, with a plain loop on the other side. I made sure that the Chinese knot finished with long tails. Then I opened up the collar band seams and inserted the raw ends of the Chinese knot on the wrong wide of the band, wrapped it around and hand-stitched in place.

To create the loop, I simply used one bias tube. I opened up the collar band on the other side, inserted raw ends of the bias tube on the outside, and hand-stitched it in place.

I don't know if I'll ever actually close it, but it was fun to make.

I had a Chinese knot left over. So I added a patch pocket with the extra knot attached.

You can also see that I created a vent in the sleeve that is bracelet length. A sewing friend said in a recent presentation that Coco always liked her jacket sleeves bracelet length since that's the skinniest part of a woman's body.

The inside of the jacket also has its own story with much bias binding in a very light weight Indian cotton. Stripes are so great on the bias. And I love the look of the Hong Kong finish when the inside is flashed.

Or if I want just a little flash, I can turn the sleeves up in a slight cuff.