The Refashioners: Child Waistcoat

This is an unexpected, additional contribution to The Refashioners, SuitsYou refashion, going on this October. The Refashioners is a fun challenge which pretty much sounds like what it is: refashion an unwanted garment into something new. 2017's challenge is to use a suit. Luckily for me, M's favourite outfit is a suit and he has plenty of them. He also got two new ones this year, so it was time for a clear out.

This navy beauty is Georgio Armani. The fabric is actually navy, with a tiny grey pinstripe giving an overall effect of a charcoal colour with a subtle stripe.  

My first garment going in to the Refashioners is a dress for me. But this was finished first because it had to jump the queue since the child told me she is going on a school trip and needs a Victorian costume.

Oh dear, there was a lot of drama getting to the right costume! She wasn't hearing of wearing an apron over a dress. No matter how much we Googled, or how many pictures we looked at. No way! But she was willing to dress as a boy, so we solved the drama with this waistcoat.

Here is the suit before refashioning. (You can see I have gone to a lot of trouble with my hair and makeup for this photo shoot.)

I had cut up most of the suit for my dress: trousers, back jacket panel and jacket sleeves. Only the front of the jacket was left. I used half the fronts, and all of the jacket lining (minus sleeves) for this waistcoat.

The pattern is Burda Style 11/2013 which has some great child sized patterns in that issue. This pattern is actually for a fur vest, not a proper waistcoat. I traced the largest size, and added 1 1/4 inch of length.

I cut the two back pieces from the back jacket lining. These have a seam instead of on the fold, but they were already stitched together, so I left them as they were. They just fitted, with no other seams, but I did have to unpick the side backs from the centre backs. They had been taken in there so the seam allowance was large. 

This photo shows the whole lining being used. The pattern was lengthened after I took this. The two backs are going to run down the centre back and the two fronts are taking up the whole front lining, including the welt pocket on the right.

The front pieces were cut from the front of the jacket, with the jacket hem used as the waistcoat hem. The tailors had sewn bias binding around the hem curve and I wanted to make the most of their work. The front jacket is also interfaced with fusible interfacing. After I lengthened the pattern, I could just squeeze out the fronts without running into the buttonhole. It is in the seam allowance, as is the side of the outside welt pocket.

I managed to keep the small welt pocket from the lining that sits high on the inside of the left front jacket. I moved this to the lower inside waistcoat as it was the only pocket where the scale was right for a child's garment. All the other pockets were way too big. The handkerchief pocket would have been cute, but I couldn't get a lower front from it. The care instructions label was just below the welt, so I kept both of those features.

I had a terrible job figuring out the instructions for turning the waistcoat and a quick and simple project turned into a lot of unpicking. I unpicked the shoulder seams to try to get the turn the way Burda instructed. I unpicked the side seams when that didn't work. I sewed them up again, and still it didn't work, so they got unpicked a third time. Gosh, I'm so bored just writing this! I got there in the end, thanks to this tutorial. I was able to sew most of the hem closed from the inside and just hand sewed the last little bit. I wish I had stabilised the back neckline with a bit of ribbon or stay tape, it seems very flimsy.

I didn't add any closures, hanging open is fine, and kept the edge looking clean, preserving the edge that the nice suit tailors put there, stabilised and steamed so beautifully.

We decided that she looks like a farmer's son in Sunday best, rather than a beggar boy. She is going to put some pennies in her pocket and pretend she is a thief!