Shirt/Vest

I adapted the vest from a Chinese-inspired shirt pattern. It had a mandarin collar and a sleeveless version, which cut down the amount of alterations I had to do. I fit the side and back seams to the client's body, allowing enough slack to accomodate her pregnancy and plenty of fabric in the seams for future alteration possibilities.

I didn't want to use the buttons to hold the vest closed, since if the fit isn't perfect they can pull and leave gaps, so I used Velcro to close the vest and sewed the buttons on top of the closing flap.

The front facing and the armhole facings are stiffened with fusible interfacing to provide a bit of shape to the bodice.

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