I was wandering around the local shops recently and saw this vest and knew instantly that it was the Pattern Union Felix jacket without sleeves.
I went home and began looking for fabric. This vest has a matching skirt and I might do another version for spring as it’s rather cute as an ensemble. In the meantime I found two very small scraps of fabric that I hadn’t known what to do with, so have been hanging around in my stash for far too long.
Both were donations. The paisley fabric came from a friend and the cream and black is a really fine wool that Sarah got me from a deceased estate. It’s rather moth eaten, but I’ve cut around the big holes, but do find some small ones when I look. Future visible mending awaits!
Of course I didn’t take photos before quilting, so you’re seeing the two layers quilted together with some bamboo wadding sandwiched in between. I used a quilting template that I got from somewhere, drawing the design onto the fabric.
I bought this big roll of wide bias binding from the Fibres West garage sale – perfect for the job!
I am so happy with the way it turned out. I sewed two strips of the bias binding to make the ties.
I decided I also wanted a pocket, so took one of the ones that came with the pattern, perfectly matched it, quilted and bound it and sewed it on. It was too high! Far too high! So I unpicked it and dropped it further down the body. It no longer matches the pattern, but to be honest I don’t think anyone would notice.
I turned over one of the corners so I’d have an obvious entry for my hand. The wide bias binding really made it neat.
The insides are pretty good too. I used coordinating bias binding for all the seams, so everything is enclosed, and I sewed it down flat to produce a less bulky seam. My overlocker did not get a look in with this one!
These photos were taken before I had done the finishing tidy up of loose threads, there was a fair amount of unpicking as I really struggled to get the binding to lay flat, particularly the binding wrapped round the edges. I sewed in one of the Kylie and the Machine labels, which was in my Advent Calendar, given to me by Katherine from SewBlooms.
It hasn’t been cold enough to wear this much yet, so I haven’t worked out how to style it, but I’m sure you’ll be seeing a bit of it over autumn. I did wear it with some jeans that I made years ago with Sarah.
For those of you who are good enough to read to the end, here’s a bonus photo of Miss G getting a kiss from Miss H! Yes, she’s crawling!
