A lined vest tutorial and a book review

I'm still sewing ballet costumes!  This one is a boy's lined vest.  I thought that this would be a good opportunity to try out some of the methods in my new book "Industry Clothing Construction Methods" by Mary Ruth Shields.  The method is a little different to other methods that I have tried (See Sigrid's lining a vest tutorial or Josie's waistcoat) so I have taken photos for a tutorial.  Sadly, I haven't used a contrasting lining or different coloured thread.  If ever I make a vest for me, I promise I'll use contrasting fabrics and threads so that you can see the process more clearly.

First of all, sew the darts in the vest and the vest lining.  The next step is to sew any pockets, or flaps, but my vest is plain, so I skipped those steps.  I also do not have a back waist belt, so I skipped those instructions as well.

Stitch the front and back of the vest together at the shoulder seams.  Repeat for the lining.  Press shoulder seams open.  Place the lining and vest right sides together, ensuring that the shoulder seams match.

Stitch around the vest, starting about 10 cm from the side seams on the front bottom edge.  Continue up the front, around the back neck, down the other front and along the front bottom edge, stopping on the bottom front edge about 10 cm from the front side seam.  If you enlarge my photo, you can see the threads hanging off where I started stitching.

Stitch around the armholes.

In the instructions, I cannot find any mention of clipping the seams, although they are shown clipped in a later diagram.  I clipped the curved seams aroung the armhole and neck edge.

 Slip your hands up through the back opening and pull the fronts through the shoulder seams.

 This is the vest turned right side out.  The side seams are not sewn yet.

The next step is to sew the side seams, front and back right sides together, continuing on to sew the lining side seams, lining front and back right sides together.  The diagram for this in the book is not very clear, and my photo is not that clear either, but this step is easy to do.  I pinned the match point at the underarms before starting to sew.

There is no mention of pressing this seam, but I think it is worthwhile pressing this seam.  Turn the vest right side out and press.

 Turn the vest inside out again.

 Stitch the bottom edge, vest to lining, leaving a gap to turn the vest through.

This next step is a tip I picked up from Threads magazine.  When you are going to turn through a gap, pivot at the end of your stitching line and sew to the edge of the fabric.  This is particularly useful if you are going to stuff the object and the stitching lines are placed under quite a bit of stress.  It also makes it easier to sew the seam shut later.

 Turn the vest right side out.

 Edge stitch or hand stitch the gap in the bottom edge closed.

Next I have to sew the buttons and buttonholes.  The book recommends sewing horizontal button holes so that the vest can expand a little when worn.  I will not topstitch this vest, but it could be topstitched before the buttonholes are sewn.

So my initial review of the book (given that I have not read all the front chapters yet);
- the instructions are easy to follow
- the illustrations are diagrams, not photos; however, the diagrams are easy to follow.
- the method outlined for constructing a vest was new to me and a simpler construction technique than other methods I have tried.