Vest--Eighth Finish 3rd Quarter Finish-A-Long 2018

Copyright on pattern 1979

After completing the "Ole Truck" project, I decided to work on the vest for the youngest grand. This will be either a birthday gift for her in November or a Christmas present in December.

I had some fabric leftover when I stitched her a corduroy skirt. My mom gifted me the pattern many years ago. I can't remember if my daughters were the size of the pattern when she gave it to me or not. The copyright on the pattern is 1979. The designs on the vest are timeless.  Miss J likes kitties so that was my plan.

Finished kitty

I cut the vest out of the leftover parts of the skirt. There is still a little leftover. . .maybe there is enough for a a purse or a hat. However, that is a project for a future day!

I had a piece of thin polyester batting in the batting box that was almost the right size so I used it. Miss J likes blue, purple and orange. Well, she likes all the colors; but she often uses blue, purple and orange first when she is coloring one of her drawings! I decided to use a bright orange and yellow batik as the lining. For the applique pieces, I went to my scrap drawer and selected some pieces that Miss J would like.

Appliquéd heart

Stitching the vest went along okay. I tried to match the thread color to the fabric that I was stitching. The directions suggested that I glue the applique pieces to the background and to satin stitch with two layers of notebook paper on the wrong side of the background! Stabilizer types have improved since 1979!

I ironed a stabilizer to the back of the background fabric and I used a sheet of tear away stabilizer when I satin stitched around the cat block. I did use a little Elmer's glue to hold the cat pieces in place. The toe nails and bell are my favorite parts of the cat.

I stitched with a 40 wt. polyester thread made by Floriani with a 100 wt. polyester thread made by Wonderfil in the bobbin on the appliqués. I found a .5 width and .5 length zig zag made for a good looking satin stitch.

Binding in process

I had planned to put a narrow strip of dark blue on either side of the cat; but, that fabric choice was too dark. I cut a couple inch and a half strips out of the cat background batik fabric and liked that combination better. I decided that there was enough going on in the block so didn't use the rick rack that was suggested to go around the cat block.

Finished back

The main body of the vest was too poofy, so I stitched vertical lines in regular intervals on either side of the applique section. I liked the results much better.

Then the plain blue blocks were calling me to decorate them with a little quilting. So I used a purple thread and played a little. After all, Miss J needs to wear just a little of her Gran's free motion quilting!

I cut out two pairs of hearts. This time, I backed the fabrics with Steam a Seam Lite stabilizer. This particular product was sticky backed on both sides so it was easy to position in just the spot that I wanted. Then I appliquéd the hearts in place. Had I been thinking more about the hearts and where they were placed, I could have made them into pockets.

Finished front

I added the lining and then made the bias tape. I wasn't all that happy with the application of the tape. Another time, I might choose to make the binding double like is often done on a quilt or I might make the bias tape narrower.

I did hand stitch the binding. I like how it looked.
I like the end results. I've shared a photo of the completed front and the back. It is cute and I hope Miss J will have fun wearing it.

I used one and one-eighth yard of fabric from my stash. I have now used 25 5/8 yards of fabric from my stash and have 24 3/8yards left to meet my goal of using 50 yards of fabric from my stash this year. This was goal number nine on my third quarter Finish-A-Long list. It is my eighth finish for the quarter!

Now, can I keep it under wraps until either her birthday in November or Christmas? Time will tell!