Love and Pincushions: hubby's wedding vest

Since I haven't had much time to make anything lately, I figured I should post about my last couple of projects. Sadly, it's been June since I've really accomplished anything in the sewing room (although that is about to change, as I've got several projects lined up). Anyway, I figured I would start with the SURPRISE vest I made for my husband for our wedding.

Because hubby is an avid hunter, I wanted to make sure there was a little bit of "him" in our wedding (which was decorated with orange, pink and red gerbera daisies). I decided that the best way to allow him to express himself was to make him a tuxedo vest that more closely fit his personality. I envisioned a silk or satin camouflage front lined in safety orange. My first hurdle was the fact that the ONLY camo fabric I could find was a medium-weight twill, fleece or netting. The twill was the winner for obvious reasons. The second hurdle (and most difficult) was to find a suitable good-quality lining fabric. I wanted to avoid the traditional ambiance lining because I wanted something with more body. After an unsuccessful trip to JoAnn's, I stumbled upon a remnant of a great safety-orange satin that had good body to it at Hancock. I decided upon a black dull satin (also from Hancock) for the back of the vest and black dull-satin covered tuxedo buttons for the front.

I used Vogue 8048. I made view C (the black one on the bottom) with some modifications:

My husband is a broad man, and even though he is only 6' tall, he has a longer torso for his height. I took the largest side and extended the width to fit his broad shoulders and the length to fit her long torso. Because this was a surprise that I gave to him at our rehearsal dinner, I needed to make sure he didn't find out so it was somewhat difficult to get the proper measurements. It helped that I made a note of his measurements when he was fitted for his tuxedo. Aside from fitting modifications, I made two other changes: I liked the configuration of buttons on view A (a pair of buttons close together with a wider gap between each pair), only instead of 4 pair, I used 3 pair (view A is higher-cut than view C). I also modified the back ties. I thought it might be more comfortable if there was a tie on each side rather than one in the middle. I used black plastic strap tighteners like the kind that adjust straps on a backpack and camo ribbon for the back ties. If I had it to do all over again, I would have used the twill as the strap, but the ribbon was fun (it was also used to make the camo and black lace garter that held a tiny holster and cap gun). Sadly, the ribbon was also somewhat difficult to sew and it's the only part of the vest that screams Home Ec. class (which is actually funny, because my mother-in-law is a Home Ec. teacher).

Hubby LOVED the vest - so did everyone else for that matter. I still get comments on how great it was that I "let" him wear a camo vest...most people are even more shocked when I tell them that 1-I made it and 2-I made for him as a surprise. They all say what a good wife I am...but really I have a great husband so it was worth the effort - I don't feel it detracted from the theme of the wedding at all, and hubby loved wearing it.

Here are some pictures of the finished project:

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