Senior Recital Vest

My oldest is a musician and had his senior recital Saturday. First, little surreal that is graduating college this year. But that is another post, I think. This post is about the vest...

Some time ago, we found this fabric at JoAnn's. It really is the most beautiful fabric, with big elaborate paisley shapes in silver and black. The photos do not do it justice. It's shimmery rather than shiny and with all the intricate stitching it catches the light with every movement. He thought it would make a great vest and so we purchased. I'd intended to give it to him earlier, but with one thing and another (the broken arm, primarily), it was set aside.

As he is away at college most of the time, getting new measurements is more tricky than it ought to be. Okay, okay, so I don't always remember everything either. Anyway, he was home on spring break two weeks ago, so I measured, on Sunday as he was leaving to go back to school, but the important part of this story is I remembered to measure while he was still in the house. As he is a tall bear of a man, standard patterns just don't work. I did find a big and tall pattern a year or two ago and with a few alterations, we were good to go. The vest pattern called for a middle back seam, but because the pattern of the fabric is so distinct (and beautiful) I did not want that, so I fiddled with the placement of the back piece on a fold to create the least extra fabric. It worked out really well actually.

I'm not a professional seamstress and the only class I've taken was 7th grade Home Ec. All I know about sewing I've learned from books and television programs and trial and error. So every time I have a success, I feel ecstatic.

Anyway, the point to this story is that the vest turned out great. My son looked great and most importantly, he felt good in it.

Oh the recital? It was the most amazing... You know, there are events that change who you are and who you will become... That recital was one of those events for my son. He was challenged in a way that he did not think he could accomplish. To watch him do something he thought was beyond his reach... I knew I was witnessing a miracle.