Mosaic vest

Remnants laid out for design ideas in my art journal.

From being in the design industry for so many years, I have 

amassed an amazing stash of discontinued upholstery and drapery 

fabrics all sorted, folded and stacked by colorway in my art studio.

While adding to and pilfering through the stack of indigo blue 

swatches I had the inspiration to create a vest to wear with blue 

jeans. My favorite fabric was a costly crewel floral fabric

 in multi-tones of blue on a cream background and I chose to use it

 to create a large shawl collar and part of the front panels. Cutting it

 out can be challenging as many of the swatches loaned to interior

 designers have a large grommet placed in the center of the sample. 

I created my own pattern out of an old cotton sheet and used a 

mannequin for fitting as I had created it with ten separate pieces so 

that I could incorporate some of the smaller swatches of fabrics into

 it. I selected a solid cotton blue to trim the collar with, creating a

 half inch border around the edge to set it apart from all the other 

fabrics that were chosen. I selected a two-tone blue lattice effect with a cream 

background for the upper back and found a fun border fabric with

 large indigo blue X's on it for creating a wide waist panel on the back

 and a found a heavy cotton with uneven stripes for the lower 

portion and intentionally left the hem with the unraveled selvage

 edge. I chose to put pleats in it and sewed the tops down for a more 

flattering look below the waist.

Dark colors on the side panels always create a slimmer profile so I

cut up an old Levis jackets' sleeves and used them with the existing

 slit opening at the bottom for a better fit and then cut out the two 

pockets for the lower half of the front panels and found some cool 

vintage buttons to replace the ones that were missing. I attached 

them to the top portion at an angle just for design fun. I chose blue

striped pillow ticking and cut it on the bias to finish the armholes

and inside the collar. 

Grateful to have it included in the latest 

Altered Couture Magazine on newsstands now!

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