The Vest Book: Create and Customize Your Own Vests Using Embroidery, Fabric Painting, Beadwork, Applique, and a Host of Other Techniques

Provides step-by-step instructions to embellish plain vests using a variety of materials, such as velvet, silk, linen, ribbon roses, paints, and beads

The perfect accessory to add a bold splash of color or a note of drama to almost any outfit, the vest has been around for four centuries and still remains one of the most versatile of all garments. Embellished with embroidery, applique, paint, buttons, beads, ribbons, cording, and more, vests afford all sorts of opportunities for creative expression, as demonstrated here in 20 exquisite step-by-step projects. Ten of these are transformations of plain store-bought vests into extraordinary customized items; the other ten are based on vests made from scratch, with all basic patterns included (on enlargeable grids). But if you're more interested in the decorative aspects than in sewing your own garments, just about all the methods can be adapted to pre-made vests. The fourteen-page gallery of distinctive creations by about two dozen artists offers some incredible ideas for vest design and adornment, and the techniques section explores various stitching and painting methods as well as pattern transfer, explains construction and finishing how-tos, and gives ideas for collar, pocket, and fastening details. --Amy Handy