Adventures in drafting – sherpa vest

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A few months ago my sister called me to FaceTime after a particularly successful shopping trip and showed me this adorable little sherpa vest she’d bought. I immediately fell in love with it and pestered her for the next two weeks to take photos of it from a multitude of angles so I could try to replicate it.

She sent me a whole bunch, the following being the most helpful, and I scampered to work.

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We had just covered necklines, including shawl collars, in class, so I had somewhat of an idea of how to go about doing this. I started with a quarter-scale torso front and back. The back was pretty straightforward. Princess lines from the armhole and then a seam at the waist.

The front was much harder. I wanted a shawl collar-y effect, but I wanted to top to be angled outward more and for the whole front center to extend out further than center front. I played around with it a lot (as evidenced by the several colors of paper) and finally ended up with something like this:

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Then I ran into a tiny problem. I’d picked up a gorgeous pale gray and white faux shearling fabric at Joann’s but it was only half a yard. Despite my best tetris-ing efforts there was always one piece I couldn’t fit on the fabric. In the end I had to crop the length by a few inches and be ok with the pattern pieces being cut out in whichever direction they fit, rather than all being in the same direction. It worked out though, I think! I’m calling this one a wearable muslin.

For my next one, I want to try to find a sherpa fabric with more drape, since this one sits kind of stiffly. And a possibly foot that works better with the faux suede-y material on the outside. It’s SO comfy though and I’ve been wearing it a ton.

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6 thoughts on “Adventures in drafting – sherpa vest”

  1. It looks great! Nice drafting job– my patterns are always patchy like that by the time I’m done with them:)

  2. My pattern making teacher reminds me that companies spend 1000s of dollars on product development, so go ahead and give yourself a break! And a pat on the back while you’re at it!
    Have you ever tried Scotch tape on your foot for sticky fabrics like this? The ‘magic’ tape would probably work best. I’ve honestly never given it a go but have heard it works well. I have a teflon foot (Bernina) and the teflon comes off in no time, might be worth trying the tape first?

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