A Pattern Is Merely a Suggestion

My knitting friend Barbara likes to say "A pattern is just a suggestion" and this vest project of mine conforms with that idea.  I started with my acquaintance with Heidi Emmett and finding this book she wrote (it's out of print) and then finding the NewYork skyline panel (also out of production) on Ebay.  

I didn't want a vest that was open on the sides like Heidi's so I pulled out a pattern I'd used previously to make a quilted vest.  

I found some upholstery fabric at the thrift store that was interesting on both sides, then cut the main pieces from it.  I began auditioning other fabric pieces to get a pleasant layout. 

Once satisfied with the arrangement, I added some light weight batting and used a decorative stitch on my machine to attach the pieces.  Originally I thought I would use this project to "sample" a number of decorative stitches.  After all I had gone to the trouble of making books with all the stitches in my machine a few months ago. 

After stitching the sample on the right and looking at my vest layout,  I decided that using multiple stitches on the vest was going to be too distracting and decided to just go with one stitch.  I did embellish the vest with some ribbon, hand quilting, and two buttons/loops.  I'm happy with the results and I'll be showing it to my Cloth Creations study group in April as part of our Vest Challenge.  My quilt guild is also having a panel challenge and I think the vest may be shown for that as well.