A wedding!
Yay!
The groom has been a dear friend for more than 20 years, so I wanted to make a wedding gift that would be special.
I asked the lovely couple: Would you like me to weave Tom’s vest for the wedding as my gift to celebrate your wedding?
Yes :)
We went through my stash of fabric that I had already woven:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
And, this piece struck a chord.
Happily, there was enough yardage for both front pieces.
Tom and Tanya and Tom’s mamma are all Saori weavers, so weaving his vest on my Saori loom was natural.
I warped up a few miles for the back of the vest:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
And wove and wove…. why did I choose to go with such a narrow strip?
Because I like the back of the vest to be pieced.
It offers a fun counterpoint to the solidity of the front panels.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
After many days of weaving, the long strip was finished.
I abuse my fabrics like crazy before sewing them: I throw them in the washing machine and the dryer (almost the only time I ever use the dryer, as I prefer to hang laundry to dry) and then iron the living daylights out of the fabric.
Tottie Tomato was happy to assist in the ironing.
She loves the puffs of steam and says it works wonders for her tomatoey little complexion.
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
Tottie Tomato was a little concerned that the fabric shrank sooooooooooo much in the washing, drying and ironing!
She was worried that I didn’t have enough…..
I assured her that if I didn’t have enough fabric that I did have more thread and a loom…. :)
more is always possible.
The cutting out stage can be daunting….
I made cotton pattern templates when I used this pattern to make Jim’s vest: LINK.
It was great, because Tom tried it on and it fit like a glove! YAY!
That made my life so much easier!
Okay… to brave the scissors:
I mark the templates so that I don’t mess up and cut the sections out wrong… that would be a weepy time!
The fronts were a piece o’ cake:
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
The backs had me more twitchy, because of the complexity of all the piecing I had to do….
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
The first one went well, and then, I checked and checked and re-checked to make sure that I wasn’t duplicating the first one, and that I was indeed ‘mirroring’ the second one.
And, to my great relief, I got it right…. but in all the tension, I forgot to take pictures, and instead, rushed off to the sewing machine to start piecing and stay stitching and assembling.
I was in my ‘scurry rabbit’ mode- get these pieces all stabilized before they go ‘sproing’ and unravel!
Happily…. very happily!
The piecing all went beautifully!
The vest is now interfaced and stabilized and pinned together, ready for a fitting and then lining and finishing!
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
I love the back!
copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay http://www.crone-findlay.com
The front is more restrained and understated, while still showing the Saori influence.
Note the pocket for the ring! :)
I hope that Tom and Tanya will be happy with the vest and that it will be a pleasure for Tom to wear it long and well.
It has love in every stitch! :D
