Make It Perfect

I’m not sure how I feel about blogging at the moment…gone are the days where I would sew up something new, head out and take photos straight away and then sit down and blog about it all. I’m not sure what it is exactly – probably a combination of busyness and trying to stay away from the computer (time sucker!) but I really think that social media is creeping in and taking over a big part of what a blog used to be about.

For me, Instagram is my favourite social media platform. I love all of the inspirational images and how easy it is to keep in contact with family, friends and other crafters and I especially love that you can get a quick snapshot of what has been going on without having to visit loads of individual blogs. It is a really convenient place to have a quick chat with other people too – ask questions, give feedback, etc. I find it much easier to be personable there than on the blog. However, I also recognise that Instagram can never fully replace the blog with more detailed photographs and information about projects or events that can be helpful and give insight to readers.

I still have a pile of unblogged projects (and an even bigger lot of unphotographed ones!) and I do want to get up to date eventually, but at the moment “plodding along” seems to be the best way to describe my blogging frequency! And now that I’ve written that, perhaps I’ll prove myself wrong and get stuck into blogging more frequently again!

Back when I released the Women’s Hero Vest, I made myself a few more to test of different fabric combinations and this is one of them. It isn’t my favourite vest, mostly because of poor exterior fabric choice but I still really like it and wear it often. This one seems to get worn to the gym a lot, it is thick and warm but extremely soft and light to wear.

The exterior fabric really let me down here – no fault of the fabric, just a bad choice made by me but I did want to see how it would turn out so used it as a trial run. This fabric is a semi-sheer french terry knit. I liked the speckled blue pattern on the white background though and decided to give it a go. Everything about it is okay except the pockets are really thin – you can see in the photo above how my hands can be seen through the pocket when I put them in there. If I was thinking ahead, I should have lined the pockets – they would have been particularly nice lined in the same fabric as the fleecy interior. As they are now, I try not to actually use them as I am worried if I stretch or pull on them too much that they will tear at the seams or circular stitching.

I do love the lining of this vest though. I used this minky cuddle sherpa and it is really soft and fluffy and cosy to wear. My kids love snuggling in it, I actually made Lil a new Uptown Girl jacket and lined it with the same fabric after I finished this vest because it is so snug. I think the blue ribbing finishes off the vest nicely and gives definition to the edges which could otherwise look washed out of it was finished in a lighter colour. And I inserted my zipper using the concealed zipper method – huge big winner, I don’t think I will make a vest without the concealed zipper again. Once you get the hang of it, it really doesn’t take much longer than the method described in the pattern.

So, overall this vest gets a tick…I love everything about it except for the fact that the pockets aren’t totally functional but it was a good experiment in fabric choice!