Butterick 3257 (OOP)

These are the fabrics I'm using for the latest vest from this pattern. The main fabric is this:

The face of the fabric is on the left, the back is on the right. All of the pictures in this post were taken with flash, as there's minimal natural light in the Sewing Cave at this time of day.

As I mentioned in the last post, it's basically fleece, but it has an additional layer attached. Hence, my nerves. Would it melt, would all stitch marks show permanently? How would it be to attach the zipper? Since it was a small remnant, I had minimal scraps and no way to re-do any of it.

So I did some testing before going any further, and it turned out that my fears were unfounded. The fleece can be pressed with a warm iron and steam, rip outs are not obvious, and the zipper went in with minimal angst.

The vest also has a lining. This is a poly charmeuse from the stash. It originally came from JoAnn's several years ago. It was on sale at $1.88 per yard, so I got several yards of it. There is still plenty left.

Here's the vest so far:

It looks a little shlumpy, but there are still seams to sew, pockets to make, and finishing to do.  But my fingertips are sore right now. The thick layers of fleece and the zipper tape required some hand stitching "in the ditch" to anchor all parts accurately before machine stitching, and to bury thread ends. I also hand stitched the lining to the zipper tape.

However, the collar and the zipper are complete--the most stressful parts are over. Yay!