Christmas Eve Vest

In my last post I showed off my son's new desire to learn to sew. Another project he made was a vest to wear to our Christmas Eve church services. He plays the bass guitar in our contemporary band called "Joyful Praise."

The vest was made from a black brocade purchased from Joann Fabrics. The back was a solid black polyester and posh lining that I had in my stash. We used Simplicity 2870, a Project Runway design, and chose the rounded neck view.

The charcoal gray pinstripe next to the brocade is a picture of his pants.

We pin-fit the pattern and pinched out almost half an inch in the back armscye. You can see in the final result that we should have added a couple of inches to the length. His back waist measurement was right on, but he has a long lower torso.

He cut out the vest and did most of the sewing. I helped with the welt pocket, however, neglected to sew in the flap at the right time. The welt did not turn out perfect, so we stitched the flap above the pocket. I also helped with the button holes. Because of the curved front, the buttons do not line up down the center front.


Here he is with his younger sister before the family service. I think he looks pretty sharp in his vest. He definitely wants to make the vest again in something a little more casual. We will lengthen it for a better look and probably do the V-neck front.

He wore a tie and his suit coat in the two traditional candlelight services. We were at church from 2:45 until midnight, going to my mother's long enough to have a quick dinner after the family service.

Her dress is RTW and altered to fit. She sang a beautiful solo in the family service. I will try to upload the video. My son is the techie in the family, so he will have to teach me how to do that. She also sang in the two traditional services with the adult choir. My middle daughter was there for the family service, but helped in the nursery in the traditional services.

It was a lovely night spent with family and friends.