Mom's Vest - Vogue 2450

I managed to finish all the PJ pants before Christmas, but I didn't get my Mom's vest done until January 21.  Oh well.  Better late than never!

I made this vest for myself a few years ago.  The pattern is Vogue 2450, and I made view C, which is on the far right side.  It's a little tight, as it's a 14 tapered to a 12 at the hips.  But I can still wear it comfortably.  The only thing I don't like about it is the collar.  I didn't interface it, and the inside layer is mesh, so it doesn't stand up at all.  Other than that, I absolutely love this vest, and I still wear it.  I'd like to make a new one a size bigger, but I want to find some outerwear nylon in a funky colour, and they don't have any nice colours here.  

My mom asked me if I could make one for her for Christmas.  I went to Davey Fabrics and bought some black Commander Nylon, and a chunky coil zipper.  In my stash, I had 2 short coil zippers for the pockets, black mesh for the lining, and interfacing.

The zippers I had for the pockets were exactly as chunky as the main zipper, and to my astonishment, they were exactly the right length!  I used what I had, and it turned out okay, but I would definitely recommend using a regular small coil zipper for the pockets, because they're easier to sew in, and they lay flatter.

The pockets are the trickiest part to sew, and once they were done, the rest of the vest went together very easily.  The zipper didn't even give me any trouble.  But I should have given myself an extra 1/8 of an inch beside the zipper, because it has a tendency to catch on the mesh on the way up or down.  It's one of those zippers that you have to stick your tongue out just right to get it to work properly.  It wasn't big enough of an issue for me to take out and redo, though.

This vest took me 7 hours to complete, and it went together smoothly.  I'm very happy with it.  Merry belated Christmas, Mom!