Double Breasted Eggplant Dress Vest

What a mouthfull!  And what a lot of fun.  Other than the boys doublets, and tunic/blouse thing I haven't made any men's clothes.  Well, the Masquerade ball was coming up and I knew I would be making my dress, so I asked Hud if he wanted me to make him a costume too.  To my surprise, he said that would be nice. :-)  Originally I was thinking along the lines of the Phantom and Raul from "The Phantom of the Opera" with the frilly shirt cool waistcoats and capes etc.  As time went on however, I realized that just a vest, and one that could be worn again in "real life" was more in order.  So I double checked the color with Hud and ordered extra fabric when I bought it for my dress.

Pattern:

Simplicity 4762

We chose the look with the lapels.

Materials:

Eggplant elegance taffeta from Fabric.com

Generic black lining fabric scrap that was lying around

faux black suede with interesting embroidery scrap

metal buckle from joanns

4 random buttons from the downstairs collection. :-)

No, they don't match. :-)  At least they are the same color and size. 

Hud sort of like the spontaneous and use what you got style, so it works.

The buttonholes weren't perfect, the under-stitching hand done and the back V rather sloppy, but I love how it turned out.  I also like the added detail of the hidden button helping to hold things together.

After I had finished basic construction and pulled the sides through the shoulders we had to leave for prayer meeting.  When we got back we had people over and were snacking and playing cards, so I decided to do my under-stitching.

  Hudson fitted the vest and said "So what about your insignia"

"Huh?"

"You know, the tag thing or emblem that says it was made by you.  The thing that shows you made it."

"I don't have one yet!  That is called branding and it takes lots of thought."

"Well, you at least have to have a pocket!"

(This all said with a little sarcasm on both sides)

I sketched for a bit, then told him to draw what he would like in the vest.  So he drew this cursive type j and k thing.  

that is what I used. :-)

The back.  

And yes, I know the buckle and buttons are not the same color.

This project was surprisingly easy.  It only took probably 4 hours start to finish.  The longest part was lining up the buttons and buttonholes.

These pictures were taken the day after the masquerade, but her wore it to his solo recital (see previous post) so I was able to get nice photos. :-)