Sewing a vest

Partner recently lost some weight and wants new vests that are more flattering to his current figure. The shape and style needed to be somewhere between these two and sort of like this pattern.

I pulled this pattern out of the file...
... and traced it out in the size I thought appropriate, without seam allowances.
I then redrew some of the lines to reflect how he wanted the vest to look.

Using scrap fabric I then sewed together a test vest, adding seam allowances only at the shoulder and sides. I then pinned it where it needed more adjustments.
The shoulders needed a little more slope to them.
And it needed to be a little smaller across the front.
He has said that he wanted it to be short, but I convinced him it should be a little longer than he thought and lengthened it. Don't forget to do both front and back when making longer or shorter.
Make a second tracing of the front and cut it at about 1/3 to 2/3.
Now cut two front facings and two interfacings from the smaller 1/3, remembering to add seam allowances. And two front linings from the larger piece. Sew the front facings and interfacings to the lining and press open.
Cut two pieces of back from the lining fabric and sew in the darts, pressing the darts towards the center on one and towards the edges on the other.
Right sides together sew the two fronts to one of the backs at the shoulders, same with the front linings and the other back. A proper vest should have no fewer than 10 seperate pieces. Depending on whether there are pockets and /or collars and back straps this number can easily double.
Right sides together sew the inside of the vest to the outside leaving the sides open.
Clip all curves and corners carefully.
Turn vest inside out through the shoulders.
Press flat using a presssing cloth if necessary to avoid damaging the fabric.
Through the back pull the sides from one side inside out, pin and sew.
Press flat and sew the othe side as far as possible on the machine and finish stitching by hand.

Edge stitch along all edges.Mark the buttonholes on the left front and work them.
Add the buttons and make sure that partner has it properly buttoned BEFORE taking the picture.
Back view.
I left out some photos to keep the post shorter, if something needs clarified please feel free to contact me.

Deswegen, because he wanted this.

Waiting for new trousers / Eine Hose für Harm

Last weekend I took my sewing machine and sat down to finish new trousers for Harm.
Do you remember?

He can't be without cigarettes. Until waiting he told me about East Frisian peculiarities. The Frisians are a very specialy race. There exist a lot of jokes about them.

Now Harm is nearly finished and only waiting for the stick on his Hand, what will help, to move his arm. It's a shame, that he's only a puppet... . Now I must go on, to complet his buddies.
It's desolate for an East Frisian Farmer too, to be lonesome for a long time.

___________________________


Nun wartet Harm nur noch auf den Stock der an seiner Hand befestigt wird, damit sie geführt werden kann. Wirklich schade, dass er nur eine Stabpuppe ist.
Als nächstes sind seine Kumpels an der Reihe, denn lange alleine zu sein, ist selbst für einen Ostfriesen zu einsam...

Ein Ostfriese kommt in den Baumarkt und sagt zum Verkäufer:
"Ich benötige einen 3er und 5er Bohrer."
Der Verkäufer:
"Warum kaufen Sie nicht gleich ein Sortiment, das ist auch nicht teurer."
"Ich brauche aber nur einen 3er und einen 5er Bohrer."
"Nun gut, aber wozu denn ?"
"Ich muss ein 8er Loch bohren."
Darauf der Verkäufer:
"Nehmen Sie zwei 4er, dann müssen Sie nicht umspannen."
________

shirt pattern, review

A fabric that I've had for several months finall y got made into a shirt, it turned out to be a handsome shirt but I'm not so sure about the pattern.
I bought a new shirt pattern on-line which looked pretty nice, it was not inexpensive at $19.95 but I thought, hey, it says industry techniques etc. from Islander sewing patterns. This pattern is definitely not for beginners, and even people who know a thing or two about shirt making are going to find some of the instructions a little unclear, but, you can always spend even more money buying the videos that will clarify it for you. The inset pocket, as one example, is made of two pieces of fabric, one a 1/4 inch longer than the other. Nowhere in the instructions is it mentioned which piece to use where, I made a guess, it turned out to be a good guess. a nice feature but an example of the the poorly written instructions. Nancy Pray, the designer of the pattern does include a tip, buy the video.
Another example is the front shirt yokes, there is a right and a left, both pieces of pattern say to cut two. There is no mention of what to do with the second piece. I really like the trick they use for attaching the front yokes to the back yokes, and it was explained well enough for me to follow, but again, if you don't understand you can spend more than the almost 20 bucks you already spent for the pattern and buy the video. i totally did not understand the instructions for attaching the collar and collar stand, but luckily had enough experience with shirt making to do something that also worked, which at that point was very difficult, but doable. If only I'd spent the extra money for the video, I'm sure it would have been very easy.
Luckily, I made a short sleeve shirt this first time, or I'd have had deal with the cuff attaching incomplete instructions, unless of course, I'd bought the video.
In short, it's a nice looking shirt. The Pattern is way overpriced for the the quality of instructions that come with it, and seems to be intentionally vague in order to get people to buy the videos.

Fabric

Haben alle die neue Stoff von Etsuko fabrics gesehen? Hier mein lieblings Muster, ja, das sind Streifen. Von Hier erhaltbar.

Has everyone seen the new fabrics from Etsuko? This is my favorite print, yes it's stripes, which you can purchase here.
Auch nicht zu verpassen, Reprodepot.

Don't miss the great fabrics Reprodepot.