Itch to Stitch Envigado Vest

I still have a bunch of projects from last year waiting to be photographed. But today I show you my first make of the year, the Envigado Vest from Itch to Stitch. I usually do not wear vests, but when I saw the pictures and line drawings I fell in love with all the details. And I really longed to sew some woven fabric and a more challenging pattern. I feel like I only sewed simple knit patterns the last months.

So, here we go. The Envigado Vest has front and back princess seams, comes with different cup sizes, front patch pockets with flaps, a waist drawstring and optional hood.

Fabric:

The pattern calls for lightweight, stable wovens. I used a stretchy linen-cotton blend., so not the wisest choice, but I wanted my vest to be a bit more drapey and not stiff and this was the only suitable fabric in my stash. The vest is unlined, but for the pockets and hood you need some lining fabric. I used a lightweight cotton for this. I thought about underlining the complete vest with this cotton, but I did not have enough of it.

Alterations:

Usually for ITS pattern I sew a size 2 for bust and waist and grade to size 4 at the hips. This time I decided to sew a size 4 and make a small bust alteration. I have thought about this before as I sometimes have the feeling that the patterns are too small in the back. For the SBA I took out so much that I got the same circumference as for a size 2. I think it was around 1.5 cm.

Construction:

As the vest is unlined, I finished most of the seams with Hong Kong finish. I used biastape made from the same fabric I used for the pockets and hood lining.

The construction is not diffcult, but time consuming. The instructions are very detailed, as always with ITS patterns, and easy to follow. I hand-basted a lot to get good results, and if there was not the testing deadline, I even would have basted more. To account for my stretchy fabric, I added a backstay. I hope that this will prevent my vest to wear out over time. There are a lot of snaps and grommets and I was really scared that I would mess up my vest, because if a snap is put in wrongly, you cannot try again. I did a few test grommets and all either broke or I could not get them right. Then my boy friend gifted me with pliers specifically for snaps. This really changed everthing. It was so easy to make the holes in the fabric where you want them to be and then put in the grommets or snaps.

Conclusion:

I love all the details of the pattern. I like that the collar is separate from the hood. Honestly, I do not know yet when to wear this vest. Maybe we should do a lot of hiking this year. Nevertheless, it was a lot of fun to sew this up.

Disclaimer: I got the pattern for free in exchange for testing it. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.