Well, as I mentioned, I am anxious to start on my daughter, Sarah's, Hanacky vest. I was given some great suggestions from a friend, Alice Vida. (See the image of her design below.) I would like to say that I went to the store and bought a vest pattern, but no such luck. I had to trace around a vest from another costume and trim it to fit this design. This vest will be a shorter vest with a one hook closure instead of ribbons or buttons. After laying the pattern I made on the fabric, I basted along the cut lines instead of cutting out the fabric the size of the pattern. (See the yellow basting stitches on the rust colored fabric in the picture.) This allows for me to embroider all the way to the edge of the vest. The design Sarah chose was found in a book of Czech-Slovak embroidery designs (see photo).
Sarah and I chose DMC floss in the colors of the ribbons that will be worn with the costume. The green ribbon will be the belt and the dark red ribbon will be used to trim the stiff lace collar.
I scanned the design in to the computer and printed it out on vellum to allow me to line up where I want to trace the design. The vellum is semi-transparent. I use Saral (see photo) tracing paper because it seems to do a better job printing the image. I only trace a very, very small piece of the design at a time because the tracing lines do not last long and wear off easily. As I have said in other posts, do not rush. When making a reproduction costume, your patience and attention to detail pay off and your costume will become a family heirloom.
