Wahid Waistcoat

 I completed the thing! I'm pretty thrilled with it. All the fitting modifications I made worked quite well, and it fits great. I think it's going to prove a pretty useful garment for what I wanted - an extra layer over a nice t-shirt, a little bit dressier than the Ibex vest I wear a lot these days. 

Front view finished

I only barely had enough fabric - I had to piece the inside facing, and I skipped the pockets because I didn't have enough to make the welts. I'm a little bummed about the lack of pockets, but I'll know for next time. And it saved me having to figure out where to put them!

I followed the instructions pretty exactly, with the only exception of the lining insertion. The instructions say to sew the lining to the main vest along the front and bottom, and leave 15 cm at the back open. But because the armholes are hand sewn you can turn the vest to the right side through the armhole and do the entire rest in one pass. Hand sewing the armholes wasn't too bad, though pinning them was a bit of a pain in the neck (literally and figuratively), and I ended up with a bunch of pokey pins while trying to remind myself how to hand sew efficiently. 

Back view of the Wahid Waistcoat

All in all it the sewing probably took me about 4 hours, with another hour of cutting out the pieces and fusing the interfacing. Not bad! Though it would have been a little slower with pockets - welts are fiddley. 

In the couple of weeks since I've finished this it's become an item I wear all the time. It's just what I need to keep my core warm while working, and not as heavy as a sweater. I'll probably make another one at some point (with pockets). I might extend the bottom hem a little bit, but that's probably the only modification. A successful project for sure!