Vogue 2657

A friend of mine, who knows I sew, recently unearthed a big box of vintage patterns and asked if I would be interested in them, as she no longer sews. Um, yes! She and her mother had fabulous taste, and were even mostly my size! There was an impressive collection of Designer Vogue patterns, all in very good condition, although many of them had been cut. She must have had a fabulous wardrobe! Anyway, I decided to use Vogue 2657 as the vest for the Wardrobe Basics SAL.

The pattern is a Valentino design, and includes full, high waisted pants a la Katherine Hepburn, a tie waist collarless jacket and this cute waist length vest with princess seaming and a deep U shaped neckline. It is self-lined and topstitched.

I used the leftover ponte knit from my pants. There was only about 3/4 yard left, so there wasn't enough for a lining as well. I decided that I was OK with that, and just turned under the neckline and armholes and used my coverstitch machine to hem everything. For the button placket, I extended the front to form a foldover facing, which I interfaced to support the buttonholes.

I decided to use white to topstitch for contrast. I think it adds a little drama to an otherwise very simple garment.

The back has a center back seam, which adds some shape at the back waist and prevents any neckline gaposis. The ponte is very forgiving fit-wise, although I did add to the princess seam and side seam for a little FBA. I only added about 1 1/2 inches all around, since I wanted a close fit.

I wore my vest with my Vogue 8747 white shirt and my McCalls 5592 white jeans. For some color, I am wearing red patent pumps (my current favorite shoes). I also think this vest will be great with some brightly colored pants, or with jeans and a colored blouse.