The Hanbok Vest

 
I love this little vest. I thought about it for a long time. I am excited to tell you it's story. 

Pattern:

This is the Hanbok Vest by Sewing Therapy. Sara Kim is a Canadian pattern designer and while Canadian, she is Korean by ethnicity. This comes thru in her designs, which I love. They seem to work on all but as a petite woman, they really appeal to me. I find traditional Korean clothing, which these are not, very beautiful and enticing with their unique proportions. Sara's design aesthetic  is more contemporary. 

The pattern for the Hanbok Vest can be had here. It is a free pattern made in cooperation with Canadian Broadcasting. I believe you have to sign up for her site. To confuse things even more, the name of her company appears to be Two O Nine Fabric Studio. 

This vest is very simple. It is designed with very deep armscyes, the better to accommodate deeper, more billowy sleeves, per the designer. It is meant to be lined. I did not line mine as my fabric was quilted. There is an inner tie and an outer tie. No mention is made of fabric for either . Due to potential bulk, I made my inner tie of a simple cotton broadcloth and the outer tie  of the quilted fabric on one side and the broadcloth on the other. 

Sizing runs from 0 to 24, busts 30-52. It comes in the short as well as long version.  I flat pattern measured and did a size 4.  Seam allowances are 3/8 inch but I cut mine at 1/2 inch. 

Fabric:

This vest was made from a 40 year old bedspread purchased from TJ Maxx. We moved to a new home and each of my daughters got in their rooms new bed linens. One got yellow and the other got this aqua version. They went on the beds but turned out to be attractive but not very comfortable bedding. They were stiff, not cuddly, with all that quilting and the girls did not like them. I ended up folding them up and storing them away as I thought the quilting was amazing, all by machine and no shiny nylon thread! I sewed up the yellow version years ago in a jacket for myself and a little coat for a toddler.  The aqua was waiting for its moment and when I saw the Hanbok Vest I knew it would work out perfectly. 

I used some scrap 100% cotton batik for the Honk Kong seam finish. 

Construction:

I reduced the length 1 inch  midway between the apex and the shoulder seam, my usual "petiting" routine. In quite a few of the garments I saw there was a lot of gaping in the armholes, perhaps due to the large size of the armholes.  I think my length reduction helped eliminate  some of that. I emphasize some. That is because many of the vests seemed to fit pretty well but at the shoulder seam there was a big space between the garment and the shoulder. It looked odd. The shoulder seam would fit fine at the neck, then extend  straight out with the maker's shoulder dropping but not the vest. Hope that makes sense. My vest did it as well. I have sloping shoulders but not usually with this much of an issue. I reduced the armscye a half inch at the shoulder seam extending to nothing at the neck. It still gaped a lot in the back. I then raised the back shoulder seam only a half inch at the armscye and again, shaping to nothing at the neck. That finally did the trick. I noticed in my research that on less endowed wearers with broader shoulders this gaping was less pronounced. This garment is flat with no accomodation for shape. I feel we have to find it on  our own and figure out what might work. So as simple as it looks, there is some challenge here. 

All of the edges were bound with a one inch strip of bias binding made with the cotton broadcloth. This was also used to cut the ties. 1 inch by 6 3/4 was spec'd. 

The inner ties were made with ties half the width of the exterior tie and were tucked under the HK seams and binding. ( Some weird shadows in above pic, sorry.)

The exterior ties were cut at the directed length. Don't bother making points if you are dealing with a heavy fabric. It won't work or matter. Just round them off and be done with it. The next time I make this  vest I will make the exterior ties one inch longer than specified. This is just a bit too short for such bulk. 

To make the exterior tie I took one tie and stitched it in the ditch on the inside behind the binding. Snip the corners away to reduce bulk. 

Next, on the exterior, topstitch the outer edge on the binding next to the tie.  After that ditch stitch in the binding seam where the tie is attached as well. Look hard or expand the photo and you can see this. 

To cover the yuk on the inside of the exterior tie, I cut a circle of broadcloth, gathered the edges and pressed them down and then appliqued it over the yuk on  the inside of the vest. I think it hid things nicely. 

Back to the other tie on the other side. Open the side seam up about a 1/4 inch wider than the width of the tie in the opposite side seam. Slide the remaining tie in and zigzag it down to the seam allowance only. Trim it down and zigzag again. Close up the open section of side  seam and press open.  Do a trial  run here to make sure you attach the tie to the most logical seam allowance which should be the one closest to the binding.  Press the seam open again if needed. 

I really enjoyed making this little vest. It had just enough challenge to keep me interested and I loved the final results. The fabric and the pattern really came together into the vision I thought about for so long. Every fabric has its time and its season. I am actually  working on a Mersis top which I think will go nicely with those big arm holes. BTW,  do you believe the machine quilting in this? There is more left to sew, too!  Ca 1983 ...............Bunny

ETA: New computer, new editing software and the learning curve is still climbing. Please be patient with my photos. Thank you.