Pattern Review: Kwik Sew 2911 Vest

Kwik Sew 2911: Toddler Vest and Jacket

The other pattern I saw for a toddler vest was Kwik Sew 2911. I am really happy with the pattern, and have made six already. I made the one in the top photo using the pattern almost exactly. It calls for swimsuit material and does the binding this way. The material I found was striped and it didn't end up lining up exactly, so some of my binding is two-toned, and I'm not sure how much I like that. The directions also didn't specify to pull it tight or not, and I was happier with it when I pulled it tight, but it was still a bit wide. I found the zipper instructions fine-- they got me through it but I had to re-read them a few times to figure out how to cope with the excess length on the top. I loved how they have you do the collar-- by sewing on the inside-- but have yet to perfect it (I keep having it land in a crooked line of what looks like topstitching from the front side). I modified the 1Ts and 2Ts of the pattern I made to take out the pockets.

I made two renditions of the vest with a hood (from the hooded jacket portion of the pattern). This is because my little guy seems to take off his hat all the time and will leave a hood on from time to time. I really like these. They solve the issue of the collar stitching not going straight, since there is no collar stitching here. I am back and forth on how much I like the aesthetic of a hooded vest versus a collared vest. It uses a lot more fabric, and is larger to carry in a diaper bag, but then it is possibly warmer. The red vest is made of a higher quality fleece, and feels really thick and toasty.

After the first vest, I started using FOE (fold over elastic) to bind the armholes and bottom. The only issue with this is trying to figure out how to have the binding and zipper meet.

In the bottom photo, the camouflage vest is a size 4T. I did my first pockets here. The directions have a lot of overstitching on the inside, and I didn't find it all that useful. My guess is that it would be more useful if you were using something other than fleece as the material. All three of these in the photo are gifts.

Overall, I really like this pattern. The pieces are easy to cut, there aren't too many of them, and it stitches up nicely. It fits well, almost like an oversized sweatshirt. The length is nice, as is the size of the armholes and the collar. I went down in zipper length from the recommended length, and like the how the 12" zipper lays more than the 14" zipper.

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