Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
Preparing the Pattern
Spread out the fabric on a clean, flat surface. Begin with the patterned fabric. Unfold the fabric pieces and pin them to the fabric.
Trace around the edge of the pattern with the crayon. You do not have to use two different fabrics, but for the purposes of explaining this tutorial, it might make it a bit easier.
Cut out the fabric and unpin the pattern from the fabric. Do this for the solid fabric as well.
Sewing the fabric
Pin one side to the back piece of fabric, with the pin line being about 1/4 inch from the edge of the fabric. This is usually under the arm hole, along the side of the torso. Remember, this will be a lined vest, so be aware of which side of the fabric you are working with.
Set your stitch to "straight" (or whatever your machine's default stitch is). Sew the seam, slowly, with careful stitches. Double-stitch back down to be sure that the fabric is secure.
Remove the pins and hold open the fabric. The "good" side of the fabric will be flat on the table, while you will be looking at the "off" side of the fabric. Iron the seam so that the joined pieces lay completely flat.
Repeat with the other piece of fabric. Be certain that the edges are perfectly aligned.
Repeat with the solid fabric. Your end result will be two vests, one with a patterned fabric and one with a solid fabric. Each piece will be hemmed together.
Pin together the two vests, so that the inside or "good" side of the fabric is on the inside. Later you will be turning the vest outside in, so that your stitching will be hidden. Use several pins so that nothing slips, being certain that the edges of both pieces of fabric are perfectly aligned.
Begin at the top right shoulder. Use the sewing machine claw for a guide for where to sew. The claw has two pieces of metal that push the fabric down onto the sewing machine, with the needle in the middle. So, if you line up the edge of the fabric with the rightmost edge of the claw, you will sew the same distance around the edge of the vest.
Sew all the way around the edge of the joined vests. Do not sew the other arm hole, but sew both shoulders, the torso, the bottom and the top of the vest. A blind hem stitch should be strong enough, but you can always double-stitch it if you're more comfortable with the straight stitch. Sew back over the starting and stopping areas of your stitching to knot the string.
Turn the fabric inside out. Iron the corners as needed so that the lines of the vest will be straight and taunt.
Sew the remaining arm hole carefully, making sure that the fabric is the same color as the thread. The under arm hole is not often seen, so it shouldn't present a problem to sew that on the outside. Use the same stitch you used for the rest of the vest, sewing back over the ends of the thread to knot them in place.
Add any buttons or button holes, according to the pattern.