An easy way to add spice to your wardrobe is to make a vest. These can be made in the same fabric as your pants or skirt, or in a contrast fabric such as a tapestry or hand-woven. Or get really creative and make your own fabric by piecing together fabrics from your stash or embellishing a so-so fabric with couching or embroidery to make it special.

To make your vest look professional both inside and out, line it with a nice satiny fabric such as Bemberg lining. Lining makes the vest hang better over your other clothes and also makes it easier to slip on and off. Lining with another garment fabric makes your vest reversible. Why not? Two vests for the same work as one. Sounds good to me.

There are many different styles of vests to choose from. I favour vests with wider shoulders, long points in the front, and a shorter back than front. This is because it suits my figure type better. The pattern books are full of vest options and they are not hard to fit, since most of us wear them loose and unbuttoned anyway. Vests also can replace jackets; whereas a suit jacket can make you look too business-like, a vest adds just an extra touch to an outfit, without turning it into Ms. Professional. Fabric too makes a difference here. A funky tapestry print with beer bottles makes a totally different statement from a textured velvet. Yet both can be used for the same pattern.

Most vest patterns call for a lining. If yours doesn't, it is easy to add one. Simply cut the lining pieces out exactly the same as the vest. Women's vests, for the most part, are lined right to the edge and there is no need for extra ease in the lining, since there is no strain on the lining in a sleeveless garment.

Make the outside fabric up, sewing the shoulder seams together, press them open (this makes for a flatter, smoother appearance on your shoulder), but do not sew the side seams of the vest. These are left open, until after the lining is attached. Next, sew the lining exactly as you sewed the vest itself, again leaving the side seams open. Give both vest and lining a good press at this point. Now lay the lining over the vest, right sides together, matching all edges exactly. Sew around the entire outer edge of the vest, i.e. front edges, neck edge, armholes, and lower edge. Remember, those side seams are not sewn yet.

Before turning the vest right side out, press the lining seam allowances back upon themselves, away from the vest seam allowances. This will help get crisper edges when you turn the vest. Clip the curves of the neckline seam and the armhole seams, about every inch on the curved areas. Clip right up to, but not through, the stitching line. You must do this clipping in order for the seam to lay flat, once it is turned. Now turn the vest right side out, bringing everything out through one side seam. Take time now to really get all the points pushed out, using a point turner (not your scissors) and poking out all the edges until you have all the fabric pushed out as far as it will go on those seam allowances. This is necessary in order to get nice pressed edges. Now carefully press all those edges, on the lining side (take care not to singe the lining fabric). Roll the seam line ever so slightly toward the lining. You don't want to see any lining on the right side of the vest. This is a good place to use a clapper; first press the seam with a steamy iron, then lay the clapper on top of the seam and hold it there for five seconds or so. The clapper will flatten that seam better than you can with just the iron. I press the neck seam over a ham, in order to keep the curve that should be in there. If you don't have one, use the curved end of the ironing board to simulate your neck curve.

Now you should have a lined vest that is totally open on the side seams. All other seams are completely finished. To close up the vest, bring the vest fabric right sides together at the side seams, matching the line of the armhole seam and the lower edge seam. These must match exactly for a nice finish when turned. Pin in place and push the lining out of the way. Just above the armhole seam, you should be able to pin the lining seams together for an inch or so. Repeat this at the bottom edge. Now sew this seam on the machine, taking care not to catch any of the lining as you sew the vest fabric. Try to press this seam open as far as possible; I know it is hard because you are working inside a circle. Finger press if necessary. You will have a few inches of the side seam of the lining to sew by hand. Tuck in the seam allowances of the lining and slip stitch the opening closed. Repeat for the other side of the vest. Now give the vest a final press, using a pressing cloth and wear with pride.

An alternate method for lining a vest is one I learned from a Sew Perfect episode. Sandra Betzina demonstrated a neat method for lining a vest in which the front and back are lined separately and then sewn together. This method would be a good one to use if you have embellished your vest and don't want to be pulling it through a small side seam. It would also be good for a fabric that is hard to press or could be easily damaged.

In this technique, each piece of the vest is lined separately and then the front is inserted between the back and its lining to be stitched together. Begin by sewing the front of the vest and its lining together. But leave the shoulder and side seams unsewn. Press the seam allowance of the lining back upon itself, clip all curves to the stitching line, then trim the seam allowances down to ¼" on all sewn edges. Reach in through the open side seam to pull the front right side out. Repeat for the other front piece.

Now sew the vest back and lining together, at the neckline seam, the armhole seam, and part of the lower edge. Leave about 6" open on the lower edge for turning the vest. Do not sew the shoulder or side seams yet. Again press the seam allowances back upon themselves, clip and trim the seam allowances. Turn the back right side out. Now you will have two front pieces, each lined, and one back piece that is also lined.

Insert one front piece inside the back through the opening in the bottom, making sure you have the right side of the front facing the right side of the back. Bring the front shoulder seam through the open back shoulder seam and line them up. You will have four thicknesses of fabric here. Bring the front side seam through the back side seam and line them up. Pin and then sew. The trick here is to make sure that the front pieces exactly fill up the opening in the back. If not, sew the back seam allowances deeper so that they do fit tightly together. If you don't do this, the vest edge will have a little jog in it when you come to the seams.

Now reach up in through the back opening and gently pull the front of the vest back out. Everything will come out fully attached and all seams enclosed. You will have left only the opening in the back lower edge to close up. Do this with a hand slip-stitch. Now do your final pressing and use the clapper to get nice crisp edges. Sandra recommends hand basting around the vest first before pressing so that you don't get seam slippage. This lining method is a nice clean one and has the advantage of letting you alter the vest if it doesn't fit correctly. Give it a try; I think you will like it.

Another tip from Sandra is to cut your lining ½" longer than the vest, sew the pieces together with the lining against the feed dogs of the machine. The lining will get pulled in and the extra ½" will be eaten up in the sewing. This prevents the bottom edge of your vest from flipping out, which is caused by the lining being too skimpy.

There are other methods for lining vests, in which the vest is turned through the bottom edge or through the neckline seam. Some of these were described in a Threads magazine in July 1998. Since I haven't tried those myself, I won't attempt to summarize them here, but simply refer you to issue #77. The article is called "There's More Than One Way to Line a Vest" and is written by Celeste Percy.

Another way to finish a lined vest is to apply binding to the entire outer edge. This gives a nice finish to a vest and you can opt for many different bindings from simple bias binding to ultra-leather binding, to stretch velvet. With this method, no need to turn the vest at all. Simply make the vest in fabric, then again in lining, sandwich them wrong sides together and bind all outer edges to finish the raw edge. Remember, when using this method, to cut off the seam allowances all around the vest, since you don't need them to sew vest and lining together.

A vest is nice project to try out new techniques. Try pin-tucking fabric, or couching down decorative threads, embroider by hand or by machine on the fronts, or even try beading an evening vest. A fast and fun project and one that makes great gifts. Adding a lining to your vest is not difficult and gives the vest a nice finished look while helping it to hang better as well.

Any sewing questions? I would be happy to try and answer them: you can email me at mail@timmelfabrics.com