Charlotte Emma Clove Vests

I love it when I am yearning to make a particular item and a pattern designer releases a pattern for exactly what I had in mind!

I've been wanting to make some sort of vest/slipover thing for a while now. I've admired many of the knit versions kicking around the creative community, but don't have the attention span for knitting these days. I wanted to sew one. 

I considered using a top/sweater pattern I already had and just lopping the arms off, but I didn't want a sleeveless top, I wanted a true vest.

Enter Charlotte Emma Patterns' Clove vest! I saw a version of it from some of the testers on Instagram and was immediately smitten. 

Deep, elegant v-neck? Split hem? Boxy, cropped shape? Goes up to at least a 60" bust or hip? Yep, yep, yep, yep. I bought the pattern, printed it and sewed it all within about 24 hours!

The Clove pattern calls for "medium-weight knit fabrics with a minimum of 5% stretch, such as sweatshirting, french terry, quilted jersey and ponte." 

For my first Clove, the navy one, I used some itchy navy blue wool knit I had in my stash, a remnant from this Oslo cardigan I made a few years back. I got the end of the bolt, and Fabric Mart sent me an extra yard! The pattern said I would need 1 1/4 yard of wide fabric for my size, but I eked it out of a yard, no problem. 

For my second Clove, the pink one, I used a yard of this super bright pink sweatshirt-y fleece stuff from my stash; no idea the content or where it came from! Not great recovery, so it looks slightly more stretched out than the blue vest.

The Clove pattern goes up to a UK size 36, which is a 60" bust and 64" hip. There are two overlapping size ranges (you get both with your purchase), the smaller with a B-cup and the larger with a D-cup. 

I chose a size 24, which is in the D-cup range. I cut View B, which is the cropped length, ending at the high hip. For the blue vest, I made no size changes. For the pink one, I shortened the bodice by 1" to make it even more cropped and to fit it on my fabric.

I think I followed the directions pretty closely, although it's a very simple sewing. I think the only way I varied from them was top stitch the hem band seam allowance so it didn't roll down and show through the side splits.

I love the fit! The deep V neckline lays so nicely, and the split hem detail looks great. The bust darts are spot on, and no gaping around the faced armholes. Very happy. 

And I love the style and sewing this project. A great layering piece that is a quick and fun project that uses a small amount of fabric.