TV Time Vest

Once a month, a group of like-minded women get together to share their artistic works and listen to a program. The June program was all about the Alabama Chanin experience, and many examples of incredible work, a la Chanin, were shown.

Barbara was wearing a Pearl Jacket that she had made in Alabama Chanin's black organic knit, and she had stitched it all by hand with the seams on the outside. I loved it!

I came home and decided to literally copy her, but I got a little sidetracked and decided to use her technique to make a Pearl Vest (the jacket without the sleeves, as simple as that).

So here's the deal. I love sports of all kinds and the NBA playoffs are going on, so I want to watch every game that I can. That requires being in the TV room rather than my sewing room. But who can just sit and watch TV without a little something else going on? Hand stitching a Pearl Vest was the answer. My favorite team, the Oklahoma Thunder, won their game 7 of the series just as I put the last stitch on this vest.

I used two layers of organic knit, Dark Grey over Gold. I cut out the grey pieces first, then placed them on top of the gold yardage, using the grey pieces as the patterns to cut out the gold sections. After smoothing the two cut pieces together, I hand basted the pieces together along the 5/8" seam allowances using Silk Basting Thread. (Game 1)

Using a rotary cutter and my basting as a guide, I cut away 3/8", leaving 1/4" seam allowances. 

I used the guide sheet included in the pattern as my order of construction and hand stitched all seams at 1/4". Coats and Clark Button Craft thread in black was my thread of choice, and I stitched approximately 1/4"-long running stitches, leaving the knots and tails exposed wherever they landed. (Games 2-6)

The only deviation from this was to bind the armholes using 1"-wide strips of grey knit sewn on with a cretin embroidery stitch. (Game 7)

Everyone here at the Sewing Workshop loves stripes, so I made an Urban T-shirt (by machine!), eliminating the front flange and lengthening it 3". This has become my new basic and all-purpose t-shirt pattern. The how-to on this is in the February 2014 Sew Confident! tututorial.

Take a look at my finished ensemble and let me know what you think.

Grey Organic Knit (30-813-8)

Gold Organic Knit (30-514-1)

Knit Stripe - Gold & Neutral (10-713-1) with a Necking Binding using Bamboo Stripe - Charcoal on White (21-613-18)