Playing Dress-up: it's a veste!

well hello again! it's time for layer 3! well, most of it.

it was time to do the veste, but first i had to get a family reunion out of the way and then another week of complete slack. ah, well.

several years ago i used jen thompson's partlet pattern, and so i used that partlet as the base for the pattern that i then draped onto my form, gretchen. note, some fabrics stretch on the bias, but canvas and felt do not. that took a bit to figure out. here's the partlet pattern, though:

i don't have a back seam, though.

the first cut without any seam allowance was the felt which happened to be navy. then i cut canvas (brown) and velvet (black) and basted it all together with hot pink thread.

the velvet i used, by the way, isn't the best, but i got it for $8 a yard, and it's there. next time i'll go for velveteen, but this was find for now.

then i took buckram and pad stitched the heck out of it. honestly, though, except for around the collar i'm wondering if i really needed it.

kitty bomb!

the shoulder and side seams were done on the machine because i couldn't really see whip stitching through velvet and on those curves. i did stitch down all of the other seaming, though, and then put a black light canvas lining on that i whip stitched all the way around.

the decoration on the front is historical process if not totally period in design. i raided grandma's old lace collection and pulled out some black lace that's at least 100 years old. even though it has flowers not of period design, re-using stuff from way back totally is, and it was free, so i'm going with it. i also wrapped all of the buttons and made button loops sized around the end of a salad-serving spoon to get the right diameter. i am going to re-attach the buttons, though, because they're pulling out since i didn't do a hitch or sew them in to reinforce. is that called a hitch? or a shank? whatever - wrapping thread around the part between the button and fabric. that. and i didn't have time to hem the skirt and i think i need to adjust the tip. i also think i need to felt the hem or do something else to give it body, but whatever. it's good for now.

here's how it turned out all together: