Lady Marian's Reversible Vest

I watched part of BBC's Robin Hood series earlier in the year and I loved this vest worn by Lady Marian. Cute, versatile, and it reverses. I thought, I have all that fabric I got from that yard sale. I'll make one for myself! And I did.

I knew I had seen a link to screen caps from Robin Hood on Amanda Beth Online. I saved the one's I wanted and made the following picture to print out and use as a guide:I dug through my extensive pattern collection *grin* and decided to use the vest from McCall's 4492 (which is now out of print) as my base pattern:


To alter the pattern I lengthened all the pieces, cut the back piece a little off the fold (this was to make it a little smaller as the vest in the pattern is supposed to open in back and therefore would have extra fabric there for overlap), and added to the front piece (I did this on scrap fabric first until I got the way I wanted it):

I sewed it together the way you would make a lined, sleeveless dress or blouse leaving the bottom open and hand sewing it together when I was done. The buttons proved a little bit of a challenge. I put on the vest and marked where I wanted the buttons to go, then I sewed them on two at a time (one on each side). I had to take them off and redo them though because the first time they were sewn too tight and I couldn't button the vest!

The finished product:

I love wearing it, it's so comfortable! It matches so much and can be dressed up or down depending on what it's worn with. This was a very fun project and, I believe, my first "movie costume".

Side note: My dress form is a little smaller than I am so the vest fits me much better than it does her!