This project is my first quilted garment, first time piecing curves, and first time trying Foundation Paper Piecing (FPP)! The Ruby Vest is a great project for sewists of all levels: the sewing tutorial on YouTube makes the pattern accessible for beginner quilters and garment sewists, while also providing plenty of room for intermediate sewists to experiment with more advanced piecing and quilting techniques.
Patterns
- Syd Graham Patterns Ruby Vest (up to 61” bust)
- Miss Make Aero Quilt Pattern (all proceeds donated to racial equity organizations).
Fabric & Supplies
- Robert Kaufman Essex Solid in Black and Ivory (190 gsm / 5.6 oz)
- Black: sun motifs, main front, lining back, bias tape, ties
- Ivory: sun motifs
- Lining front pieces: Paint in Black from the Sketchbook collection by Alexia Abegg for Ruby Star Society (135 gsm / 4 oz)
- I didn’t have enough of this fabric for the entire lining, so I only used it for the front pieces.
- Quilter’s Dream Bamboo Silk batting
- Road Trip Pattern Co. Circa 2024 Woven Sewing Label (design by Elana Gabrielle)
- Walking foot
- Schmetz Microtex 80/12 needle for piecing and 90/12 for quilting and garment construction
- I immediately broke my 80/12 needle when I started quilting over a thick FPP seam (whoops).
Sizing & Modifications
My Measurements:
B: 41.5”, W: 33.5”, H: 43”; Height: 5’9”
B: 105, W: 85, H: 109 cm; Height: 175 cm
Cup Size: B (~2” or 5 cm difference between upper and full bust)
- View: cropped tie front v-neck
- The pattern recommends choosing a size based on bust and waist measurements. I went with my recommended size (14). The finished garment has about 6” of positive ease at the bust and hits the mark of boxy but not oversized.
- I added about 1.5” in length to front and back pieces since the pattern is drafted for height of 5’7” and I am 5’9”–5’10.”
- I used a scrap of the lining fabric to make a hanging loop and tucked it under the center back bias binding.
Sewing Notes
- Shoutout to the pattern designer Sydney for responding to my email with a clarifying question right away—I appreciate you!
- I completely forgot to stay stitch the neckline and arm openings but I don’t think anything stretched out noticeably.
- I cut the lining fabric flat and was quite happy with the pattern matching across the front 🥳
Piecing
- This was my first time doing Foundation Paper Piecing AND piecing curves and I’m satisfied with how everything turned out. This video from Craftsy provides a brief overview of Foundation Paper Piecing. I also recommend Alderwood Studio’s tutorial videos for piecing curves.
- FPP is a bit of a mind-bender and was easy to mess up if I wasn’t paying attention. I used a stitch length of 1–1.5 mm and can confirm that seam ripping FPP really sucks.
- For the back patchwork, I used the inverted color scheme at the intended scale (the sun block finishes to 16” square).
- For the half sun on the front, I used the solid color scheme at about half size. I traced the FPP pattern while viewing it on my iPad Mini. It didn’t turn out as clean as the back, but I think it adds a nice touch to the vest.
Quilting
- Using a walking foot, I quilted vertical lines 1.25” apart using a 4 mm long straight stitch, starting from center back. I ended the stitch lines at the curved seam around the sun.
- The side seams ended up not being vertical (i.e., not parallel to the center back and center front). I’m not sure if this was due to imprecise cutting and/or seam allowances? I kept my quilting lines parallel to the center back and front and ignored the wonkiness around the side seam.
- I added radial quilting lines between the sun rays extending to the curved seam around the sun. I think placing the stitch lines between the rays—rather than in the middle of the rays—makes the rays more puffy and the design more legible.
- I carefully stitched in the ditch to divide the inner circle into quarters since there were already seams there.
- I used black bobbin thread for the entire vest, but switched between ivory and black thread for the top threads while quilting.
Binding
- Once the piecing and quilting were finished, the vest came together quickly.
- This was my first time making continuous bias binding and it was really neat! I accidentally cut my square imprecisely, so the last segment of the spiral was not quite wide enough. Luckily the pattern produces extra bias tape so I didn’t need to recut anything.
- I graded the seam allowances slightly while binding to reduce bulk (especially around curved edges), but tried to ensure that there was still enough batting to fill out the bias tape.
- In the past I’ve used an edgestitch presser foot when attaching bias binding, but slowly stitching in the ditch from the right side with my regular presser foot was v. effective and gave a clean finish.
Notes for Next Time
- I like the look of Essex, but it’s a bit too scratchy against my skin. I'm hoping it softens with additional washing. If I made this again, I’d use softer fabric such as a sandwashed cotton or Art Gallery Pure Solids.
- Try a printed fabric for the back lining piece to better hide the securing stitches when using contrasting top and bobbin threads or knot by hand and hide within the fabric layers.
Keep In Touch
Thanks very much for reading! If you’d like in-person support and instruction, please sign up for my classes at Modern Domestic or reach out to schedule a private lesson. If you have any questions, feedback, or corrections regarding this post, please don’t hesitate to contact me!
Further Reading
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