Apologies for the lack of updates over here recently – I’ve actually been doing lots of sewing and living, but not much blogging! Part of that is because I’ve sewn a few things that are incompatible with the super hot & dry summer we’ve been having in London and I don’t really fancy doing photoshoots of trousers and long sleeved shirts!
But I thought I’d share a quick little project I made a few weeks ago… We had tickets with some friends to see an outdoor Super Furry Animals & Beta Band concert up at Ally Pally in north London, and I wanted to wear something sleeveless for the heat. The concert itself was fabulous – The Beta Band literally played my dream setlist (only songs from The Three EPs plus “Squares”) and SFA played all their greatest hits, and there was tons of shade and space to sit and a truly extravagent array of food trucks!
But back to the top I sewed for it…
I’d already traced the MadeIt Patterns Rest Vest (RIP OOP) in size 14, close fit, when I made the black and white versions in 2023 (which I can fit into once again!), so I literally didn’t need to do any pattern prepping for this.
I’d already done the pattern changes before, too – shortened the body by 4cm/2in (it’s REALLY long!) and widened the sleeve bands to be 4cm so I could attach them as bands instead of bindings (thank you, Previous Me, for documenting the changed Order of Construction on the 2023 blog post!)
This ouroboros-style attachment of the bands is similar to the technique I use on our Verasatili-Tank pattern, and it always makes such a nice finish – much nicer than any binding IMHO.
It’s cut from the leftovers of a grey marl cotton jersey, which was itself a remnant to begin with. I’d cut a teeshirt from it in summer 2025 so there wasn’t much leftover but it was enough for a vest without too much fabric Tetris-ing. I’d originally bought it from Like Sew Amazing, in my last ever order in March 2024. 😞 My notes say I’d paid £12 total for the entire 1.85m remnant, which made both the tee and this vest.
This is such a quick pattern to cut out and to sew, and it was all finished in an hour. It was looking a bit plain, so I ironed on some Lestat logos in flo yellow vinyl that I’d cut a few months ago when I was making my parkrun re-debut tee (yet to be blogged, sorry!)
I’ve since worn this a bunch of times and I always marvel at how much I love the fit of this pattern! As you can tell, I’m a bit smaller than Susan at the moment so it’s nowhere near as tight on me as it appears on her.
And if you haven’t watched it yet, the full season of The Vampire Lestat is now available to stream/binge on BBC iPlayer (UK) as well as AMC+ (USA & other territories) as well as on Netflix in a bunch of countries too!