All Stash Vest

I've been working on a vest that is not working out well, and I thought maybe I could remodel an old one.

this one. And it's just too small altogether now to be remodeled.

But I do still have the rest of this fabric.

A bit of a story here. 1992, my first trip to London, standing in Conrans and loving this two faced upholstery cotton with branding symbols on it. It Was A Lot Of Money.

I sat on it for awhile when I got home, until I bought a vest that needed new lining (the gold was too much for the tan front) (and the gold was too beautiful to get rid of). I would need to make a new vest to go with the lining. And this fabric was perfect.

Fabric and lining potentials (the middle dark grey went back to the drawer). This is all pretty deep stash - the black and white stripe is the newest at eight years in the 'collection'

I am going to alternate with them.

It's a lot easier to cut into this stuff now than it was in the mid90's.  And i still have a sizeable hunk for something else. I have noticed the smaller the remnant gets, the more I adore it.

 

I am sewing, darn it (pun intended)

Well, there's no darning to speak of.

There are pants

Ravens from Spoonflower on twill and crows for lining

Jeans. The fabric is too stiff for trousers with any pleating.

I am really good with the whole jeans making process until the end and then I get sloppy with the handstitching (and yes, the zipper ends got a tab to enclose them).

Also there was a sewing failure, where I secured the 1 1/2" elastic in the waistband with nonwoven material and of course it tore while I was wearing them at work. I had to safety pin my pants to my shirt so I would not become unpantsed.

Sorry, no good photos of that. Which is a shame because it was quite the epic moment.

Used the homemade plastic bodkin (yes, I staple it on. I can remove the staple)

And if you look very carefully, you can see the remnants of the fuzzy shreds of the nonwoven stuff I used as a elastic leader.

I am trying to not stitch the elastic through the waistband layers to secure it, but I end up doing that very thing at the end of the process because I just SCREW UP. I don't think it looks very finished, but I get impatient, I want to have the thing done now so I can wear them tomorrow (or some other ridiculous self inflicted deadline)....

I'm working on that.  I am also still altering jeans

The query this time was: could I take them in as extremely as before (almost four inches in the back) and not run the dart into the pocket to hide the end? I played with these a lot before I committed to my choices (two darts and taking in the back seam.

 In a single color fabric without distressing or bleaching, this would look fine. Because I am dealing with the different colors, the seams look really sad. I should just replace the yoke entirely. It would be the wrong color, but it would be better.

The next time I am going to make a virtue of those dips in the yoke and exaggerate them to look like the points in a western shirt yoke.  I am not done with my love of western shirts and making jeans, but maybe for the moment.

photo source https://sneum.com/the-anatomy-of-the-western-shirt/