Lace Refashioned Vest

I got this nice but boring vest at the thrift store and decided it needed some refashioning. I thought some lace doilies would be a nice addition.

vest or shirt

lace doilies (one large and one small)

straight pins

needle

thread to match your lace

single side fusible interfacing

iron

scissors

Place your large lace doily on the back of your vest or shirt and pin down.

Stitch the lace down around the edges and remove pins as you go.

Pin a circle about a 1/4" inside where you want your cutout to be. Be precise and use lots of pins.

Flip the garment over and use a pencil to draw a circle just inside the pins.

Remove the pins.

Cut along the pencil line.

Snip the edges of the cutout in the garment.

Fold the edge to the inside of the garment and pin in place.

Tack the edges down. Don't worry about it being pretty on the inside. We'll deal with that in the next step. However, you don't want these stitches to show on the outside of the garment if possible. I did my best to only stitch through the lining. If your garment doesn't have a lining, just do your best to keep it pretty on the outside. It shouldn't show too much with the lace over it, but keep this in mind.

To secure and hide the hem on the inside edge of the cutout, you'll add singe side fusible interfacing.

Be sure to choose interfacing that isn't any stiffer than the fabric your garment is made of.

Trace the scrap from the center of your cutout onto the interfacing.

Then, draw another circle about 2" outside the traced one.

Cut out both circles.

Now you'll need to trim down the hole in the interfacing to fit the garment. Trim a bit at a time until your interfacing covers the hem but doesn't overlap the lace.

Iron on the interfacing.

Cut two strips of interfacing whose length is the diameter of your doily. They should be about a 1/2" thick.

Iron the interfacing across the center of the doily on both sides.

This will keep your doily from unraveling or becoming misshapen when cut.

Cut through the center of the interfacing strips creating two halves of the doily with interfacing along the cut edges.

With your first half of the small doily, fold over the edge with the interfacing and stuff it into the pocket of the vest.

Pin it in place, stitch around the edges, and remove pins as you go.

Repeat with the other pocket.

Note: My vest has 1/2" deep fake pockets. If you garment doesn't have pockets, you may want to use two doilies and create pockets with them instead. Simply pin the doily where you want the pocket and sew around only the bottom edges.

Wear with a colorful top or show some skin through the lace doily back.