New Waistcoat, new embroidery

Remember my last entry with the embroidery for my new waistcoat that I didn't like?  Well here is the finished article with the new embroidery that I am really happy with, I've gone for lots of colour and used designs that encompass what I do for my living without having a name and business logo – anyone can have that, I wanted to express my business identity a little more creatively.

This is the whole front of the waistcoat with two sets of vintage scissors, the bottom pair being of a very old design which I found rather interesting; a stand (or tailors dummy) in line with the buttons and reels of thread and a tape measure. 

Here is a closer look at the first pair of the antique scissors which I liked so much. 

At the bottom you can see the other scissors design which is my favourite one.  The stand which is a vintage style one with the cotton reels off to the side.  The PE Design software has made a good job of autopunching the design, this is where the software selects the stitch type, density and direction; I have changed the colours a lot as the designs were originally monochrome.  I am very enthusiastic about colour, especially contrast colours working together to create a dynamic effect and this whole collection of designs is jolly cheerful as well as selling me and my profession.

Here is a closer look at the tape measure you will remember I had previously executed with yellows and greens, for this version I used purple and dark blue to contrast with the yellow and gold – much more successful!  

The lining I have used is a stretch satin that is a similar shade to the corduroy instead of a contrasting colour which I have used in earlier waistcoats.

This is the previous embroidered waistcoat that I made the week after I got the Brother PE Design software; before I discovered the joys of the autopunch settings and got click happy with my colours.

And this is my very first embroidered waistcoat where I splurged with my favourite patterns that came with my Brother Enovis 750 embroidery machine last year.

At the beginning of last year I began my collection with this silk tweed waistcoat, I recently fell in love with this one again after not having worn it for some time – as a result of making the embroidered ones.

Unlike the later waistcoats all the buttons on this one are all slightly different because I had been given some samples and wanted to see how they looked together on here – I like the oddness of them as a design detail.

So now you can see the collection so far of my waistcoats, it is my aim to have 10-12 eventually as I love waistcoats and would live in them if I had enough, they go with everything, be that trousers, jeans or a skirt and smarten things up a treat; these are a bit playful, but that’s me.

Next on the list is a slightly re-designed Highway jacket, I have been mulling it over and I want to make a new prototype of this design, to lengthen it, make the bodice and skirt separate and make the skirt fuller; will do some design drawings methinks.

Waistcoat mistake

If there was ever proof that even the best of us make mistakes, this is it!  I have been making a three piece suit for myself out of a stunning piece of Purple Corduroy that I was gifted with and this is the second piece, the waistcoat.  I was experimenting with metallic threads and with different colour combinations on the cord.  The vintage sewing machine design has not come out as bold as I wanted it and the colours I picked were not the best.  I don’t like the effect created by the metallic threads on the machine and scissors,  and they have not worked very well in my Brother Embroidery machine; I suspect the best results will be in Brother metallic embroidery threads so I’ll be investing in some very soon

The next go will be with colour threads only and two new designs, I’ll keep the measuring tape because I really like it’s boldness but will replace the green and teal with dark purple and blue, shall experiment with another vintage sewing machine design, may skip that, and a bolder pair of scissors.  I have a lovely cotton reels design that I think will be good. So here goes with another pass.

Will keep you posted as to how it turns out.