If the words ‘vest and pants’ don’t send you into a nostalgic school horror spiral then I’m afraid you didn’t grow in up in the UK in the 90s. ANYWAY, here’s an entirely handmade outfit that in the US parlance we’ll also call a vest and some pants…
Trousers first, these are the Vikisews Britney pattern, which it seems like is still only available in Russian although they are working through English translated versions at a clip. But I am impatient and also enjoy a challenge, so muddling through with Russian it was. It’s actually my second Vikisews pattern in a row after a rousing success with the Ingrid coat (which is now available in English).
Gotta say I’m joining the VS fan club, I have really enjoyed the drafting, fit and construction of both the patterns I’ve made now. The Britneys are a high waisted barrel-leg trouser with pleats, hem darts and facings and jeans-style yoke and fly. I made size 38 which is pretty much my measurements other than bringing in the waist. The VS site has detailed size charts and also ease charts which are very useful to select the right size for your fit preferences. The instructions are also really nicely photographed which helps with the language barrier.
The only main modification I made was to draft and add these front patch panel thingys which have been doing the Instagram rounds. No real practical purpose but I like the additional interest and I think the topstitching looks really nice on this creamy fabric. I used tonal cotton thread and a triple-stitch, and adjusted the back pocket size and shape to ‘match’.
Talking of the fabric, it is a natural undyed cotton and hemp blend denim that The Hemp Shop kindly sent me to try out – specifically their Mid Denim Twill though they have many other weights and blends as well. If you are a linen lover I suspect you will like hemp too – it has the same characteristic coolness, lustre and rumple and this twill has a pleasing soft-slubby finish to the texture. This twill sewed up like a medium-heavy weight denim, although with enough drape for the pleats too, so was a great match for this project. I think it’d make a particularly luxurious boiler suit or dungarees too, and it has excellent green credentials as a fibre.
I did have to be careful stitching over areas with a lot of layers – I didn’t want to go too thick with needle size as I didn’t want to snag it, so ended up hand-cranking some of the fiddly parts with a size 90 needle. I ordered some navy dye too as undyed hemp fibres take well to dye, but actually decided I loved the natural colour as is – however I used cotton thread so I can overdye in future if I feel like it (or they get grubby).
I was oscillating between will they/won’t they work for the duration of sewing these – right up until the waistband and button were in I was worried the pleats and pockets were pulling awkwardly over my hips (pear-shape problems). But in the end they fit and hang pretty nicely and they’re really comfy. Another VS success!
Back to the vest! This is just a fun little number where the fabrics did the heavy lifting of a very simple silhouette and sew: soft-stitch jacquard and brushed check flannel both from Merchant & Mills.
I hacked the pattern from this vintage one inspired by this picture of RTW; I needed to size it down then just added the wavy front by eye. Then outer and shell were just sandwiched together, the raw edges bound with knit bias tape, and a little velvet ribbon closure tacked on.
And yay, it’s reversible! Although I do fancy adding a pocket which will take some thought. I have plenty of fabric left, this taking pretty much only half a metre of each, and it’s already been a staple both at home and out (the sweater under here is an old Toaster). Fast and slow, old and new, in one nice autumnal outfit.
Love the details of these pieces so much- the triple topstitching and the wavy lines, so good! I’m adding this pattern to my ever growing Russian list!
Oh, I love your pants, they fit your perfectly! I found Vikisews this summer and I’m a fan too – excellent drafting with detailed professional instructions (I made Rolis dress and Ruta pants).
Your pants look awesome, I’m going to look that one up…
When I saw the words on Instagram “on the blog” I was like yesssss 🙌🏻
Trousers are fab, fabric looks lovely and the type that’ll keep giving as it wears. Your vest is gorgeous. Love the wavy front and the relaxedness of the whole together. Great blog, thanks!
Thank you Heather! I’ve just given the blog a little facelift to try and encourage me to keep it going…
I’ve recently printed the Ingrid pattern after seeing your beautiful version. I had been wanting to make a shacket for a little while. I really appreciate the sizing and ease info in the pattern and have high hopes for the pattern. Your pants are lovely and I like the double fronts detail. I even said it out loud: “She put double fronts on pleated pants!!!! Whhaaa!” Nice work!
Oooh I like those trousers so much! The front panels remind me of when I used to draw sci-fi people as a kid, which nearly always involved random geometric panels on their jackets and (let’s face, cargo) pants. Utilitarian futurism? Aaand now I want to dart some hems.
I feel like there’s a bit of a sci-fi moment going on; a lot of padded jackets with sculpted shoulders too. I do love the little kick of shape a darted hem gives.
I am always so impressed by the fitting and personalisation you achieve with your makes. I have no confidence when it comes to altering or hacking a pattern, but as I am definitely not an out of the packet shape (too tall and gangly) I really need to learn. Do you have any recommendations for books or resources? Ideally bite size chunks as between work, a 2 year old and being 6 months pregnant I don’t have much spare time or space to see at the moment. Thanks for keeping the blog going, I think I have been following you from the start, back when sewaholic and Colette were two of the few indie pattern makers.
Thanks very much for following along for so long! I haven’t used many books or videos etc, I tend to fall back on the Colette and Closet Case fitting ‘cheat sheets’ which might be handy from a bitesize reference perspective.
The trousers are looking fab on you. Did you toile or you were luck ? As a fellow pear shaped lady I would never choose barril pants thinking it would never look good on me. My other suprise was that you used cotton thread. I thought it is something that never works with the machine. But I’m a novice at pants sewing.
I didn’t toile, I went by hip measurement and figured it’d be easy enough to take in the waist via the pleats and side seams as needed.
Cotton thread is generally fine, it can be a little more prone to snagging and snapping but I didn’t have any issues here.
Those front panel patches are so cool!
Thanks, glad my weird idea worked out!