Altered Garment Challenge

 I belong to a on-line Altered Garment group and our challenge this last month  was to use something off Pinterest as an inspiration and starting off point for a garment. This was my inspiration. I believe this was made from a vest. I am not sure why I like it so much. I do like suspenders but have tried to wear them before and haven't been real successful.

 I decided that instead of a vest, I would use a jacket I had on  hand. As you can see it is too big through the shoulders and chest so the fit was going to take some doing if I was going to use it as a jacket.

 This was my first jacket/vest. I found the suspenders to be more of a problem than making the jacket portion. I am not sure what to call this except a vest. Anyway, I measured from under the jacket arms all around and cut the jacket in two. I actually made three of these, I liked them so much and one had a jacket lining, which I turned under and hand stitched closed. Because the jacket was also too big in the chest area, I took up the jacket/vest under the arms so it fit better. I had to do that alteration on all the jacket vests. Anyway, on the two jackets that had no lining, I made a bias strip facing and sewed one to the front of the jacket as a visual interest and the other jacket I sewed it to the wrong side. Those facing worked great to finish the raw edge. The suspenders were actually a lot of work. I used men's suspenders from the thrift store and remade them smaller. I also don't like suspenders that need buttons, so I managed to find clips to use on the suspenders.

 Here is one of the jacket/vests. I really love how they turned out and I loved wearing them. One of the reasons I like these is the long lean look I get.

Under my favorite short jacket is another jacket/vest I made using a striped jacket. I know you can't see the top under all my jewelry, but it's there. My favorite jacket/vest I have made is this stripped double breasted vest. I really enjoy wearing these little creations. They are fun and funky.