White Shirt and Hand Knitted Vest

Hello friends, the weather is getting more fresh here in Macau and I'm glad I finished these two garments (shirt and vest) at the right time. I started to sew the white shirt last week, pattern modified from shirt dress - Fait main magazine May 2019 and I used cotton fabric that I bought from the local shop. 

I started my hand knit vest in June. The pattern was self-drafted and the yarn was cotton in deep blue that I bought during our trip to Singapore two years ago.

My plan was to wear the vest as it is with pants or a skirt for summer but as the winter is coming very soon, I decided to sew the white shirt to wear with it.

About the shirt, this is my third version of the pattern, the first version was in striped blue with a high low hem and the second version was in a gingham print with U-shape hemline. 

For this white shirt, I used the same hemline as the second version, added two pockets, finished the sleeve placket with facing and reduced 2 cm in both sides of the shirt for a better fit.

The sewing process was enjoyable, except for the collar. I used a lot of pins and basted the collar before sewing them together.

I wasn't in the mood of making my own bias tape for the packets, so I used facing from the same fabric and I liked the result.

• I sewed the facing piece and the sleeve fabric in the marking area for the placket right sides together.
• Cut the placket carefully and clipped both ends.
• Turned the facing piece on the wrong side of the sleeve, pressed with an iron.
• Flipped the 0.5 cm allowances inside and pinned.
• And then I sewed along the facing.
• I did another press using the iron and done.

After both plackets were done, I sewed the sleeve band, buttonholes and buttons.

I love the look of the pockets and I'm glad that I added them. It made the plain white shirt cuter. Also, I decided to skip the button and buttonhole in the first row and laid to collar flat.

The knitting progress on this vest was slow, I started in June and I was planning to make a short sleeve but I gave up because I didn't have enough yarn. I posted my plan and some of the progress on Instagram. 

I started the vest with the front side, cast-on using 2.5 mm circular needles 122 stitches followed by ribbing until 4 cm. And then, changed into 3.25 mm circular needles and knitted until reached the armhole.

Decreased a few rows and worked in the v-neckline. Bind-off in both shoulders.

I did the backside after that, it was easier than the front side.

The picture below was the process of ribbing the armhole after I sewed the sides and shoulders together. For the ribbing, I used 2.5 mm double-pointed needles.

And the neckline ribbing was knitted with 2.5 mm circular needles, I decreased a few rows to get a nice and flat neckline. The center V wasn't perfect and I'm fine with that, I'm happy with my first attempt 😊

After all, I'm happy with both garments and I'm sure I will wear them a lot in the cooler weather. But I'd like to lower the v-neck on the vest if one day I make it again.

That's enough for today, happy sewing and stay safe 💗

See you next week in another post, a simple long sleeve dress, self-drafted pattern 😊