handmade: T-Shirt Vests

Two weeks ago I served as staff at the annual Purple Door Music and Arts Festival in Pennsylvania. Every staff member receives a staff shirt to wear as they complete their assigned job. This year my job was to sell merchandise, but I did not want to wear the large staff shirt over my dress, so I made it into a vest.

I will never wear that vest again (it says STAFF in a very large and unattractive format on the back).

But I did enjoy the concept of taking a t-shirt and making it into a vest, and the comfort the t-shirt offered. So I made a legitimate t-shirt vest out of an old t-shirt my brother had given me a while back with the instructions to do as I pleased.

Above: I paired the vest with a purple striped dress that was formerly my grandmother's.

I used the ribbing around the neck and the sleeves to make the pockets. The lining is a vintage floral patterned fabric that a lady from church had given us. I got the button at JoAnn Fabric's a while back when buttons were 40% off and I could use my employee discount on top of that. One of the pockets has a stenciled flower identical to the flowers on the lining.

I hardly ever wear yellow, but I was drawn to this particular color. Plus it looks great with brown!