How to make a vest out of a denim jacket?
How to make a vest out of a denim jacket?
Denim vest is one of the main fashion trends of the last several fashion seasons. It goes well with light sundresses and dresses, short shorts and bright skirts. However, not every girl has money to purchase this useful and stylish thing, especially since such vests are sometimes unjustifiably expensive.
A good way to update your wardrobe without hitting your wallet is to make a trendy vest out of an old denim jacket. If you don’t have the right jeans, you can use the thing from someone else’s shoulder, because the vest does not have to be exactly in size.
Turning an old denim into a fashionable vest
To give a frayed denim jacket a new lease of life, simply rip off the sleeves, process a few seams and, if necessary, decorate it with various decorative elements.
For work you may need:
- cutting scissors;
- threads matching the color;
- crayon or remnant;
- set of safety pins;
- sewing ripper;
- a needle or sewing machine;
- decorations (optional).
The order of work will be as follows:
- Start by applying new armhole contours to the garment. There is no need to neatly rip off the sleeves as the armholes of the vest should be slightly deeper than the denim jacket.
- Then cut the sleeves along the markings, leaving about 1 cm for the seams.
Seams can be processed in several ways:
- stretch out several threads along the edge to create a careless fringe;
- overcast with an overlock;
- trim with braid.
If you chose the latter method, then you will need to purchase a suitable tape (1 meter of tape will be more than enough). The tape is sewn to the cut of the armhole with a 5 mm seam.
Decor options
You can decorate the resulting vest using a variety of materials at hand, for example, buttons, beads, rhinestones, fringes, ribbons, etc. Let's look at two of the most interesting ways to decorate a denim vest.
Metal rivets
Metal studs add a touch of punk or rock to a simple denim vest. The first thing to do is to think over a pattern or drawing made of rivets and schematically mark it on the vest (it is most convenient to use a special washable marker for this purpose). Then we estimate the approximate number of rivets that we need.
Now you need to carefully attach the rivets to the vest so that you get the intended pattern. The easiest way to fix them is with a special machine, but usually only professional seamstresses have it. Therefore, we advise you to use the set of tools for installing buttons and rivets, which are available in a large assortment at regular handicraft stores. However, you can cheat and buy imitation rivets on a self-adhesive base.
Lace
Rough jeans and sophisticated lace are paired for an incredibly beautiful combination.
Therefore, as another way of decorating a denim vest, we want to offer you lace trim. There are many options for lace ribbons in sewing shops, from synthetic lace to real bobbin lace. We advise you to choose cotton, textured lace - it will look more impressive on denim.
How exactly to use lace to decorate a vest is up to you. You can put a thin strip along the edge of the armhole, you can trim pockets with it, or use it as an original patch. Appliques look very gentle, in the form of lace patterns cut along the contour.
How to make holes?
Ripped jeans have been in fashion for a very long time, and hopefully this trend will continue for a few more seasons.
If you have ever tried to make fashionable holes on jeans, you have probably noticed that the holes as a result are completely different from those on store goods. The fact is that to get stylish holes with fringe, you need to follow a special technology of "rags".
So, to make spectacular holes on a denim vest, we need a sewing ripper and a little patience. We choose the place of the future hole, take the ripper and make several vertical cuts of different lengths in a row. Then we turn the ripper with a rounded end and begin to pull out the white transverse threads one by one. Carefully remove the longitudinal blue threads. We finish the work when the hole reaches the desired size.
Fashionable "vintage" vest is ready!