Aimee Sher Makes Back to School Vest

Bilbo Baggins X Monty Don

I’ve always loved the idea of a casual vest or waistcoat. I love the practical element of the extra layer around your torso for warmth, whilst still leaving your arms free. I’m quite an active person, constantly busy doing something, which means I heat up quite quickly and (TMI) can be prone to sweat. A vest always seemed like a practical item to have in my wardrobe for those chilly days, keeping the cold off my chest whilst not contributing to overheating. Two of my style icons, Bilbo Baggins and Monty Don, are proponents of the casual, practical waistcoat, so I decided it was time to give a knitted waistcoat a trial. 

When the Aimee Sher Back to School Vest popped up in my search, I thought it ticked all my boxes. A basic, straightforward knitted vest pattern, with no fussiness or pretension to the style and design. The downside is that it’s technically a kids pattern. A lot of the adult patterns I sifted through included (to my mind) unnecessarily finicky or gendered details. Luckily for me, as a person with size privilege and minimal chest, I fit into the top of the sizing chart of the Back to School vest, knitting the age 14 size. The resulting waistcoat is snug but comfortable. I could have done with an extra inch or so around the hips, but it’s not a deal breaker. The design of this vest is such that I think if I knit it again, it would be fairly easy to add an extra inch when I’m casting on. You knit from the bottom hem up to the shoulders, so it wouldn’t be too tricky to add extra circumference by casting on the appropriate amount of additional stitches. I adjusted the length of the body as I went, measuring the length of the knitted piece and comparing to the length from my hips to armpit.

The yarn is a moss green 4 ply, very kindly gifted to me by Katie Green when they were having a destash. I held it double with Drops Kid-silk, a mohair & silk yarn. I buy this from Knitted Home, it’s affordable and comes in a wide range of colours. I would love to find a source for high welfare mohair but haven’t yet had much luck with that search. I love the slightly marled appearance the two greens held double produces. The fuzzy halo produced by mohair fabric is just so cosy and warming.

The buttons were from my stash and I have literally no idea where I got them from! Most of my stash buttons have been inherited from various people clearing out, or bought from charity shops or car boot sales. I almost never buy new buttons, I’ve pretty much always got something in my stash that works. Whenever I see job lots of buttons being sold, especially at car boot sales, I always jump on them. It’s great to have lots of options waiting for the right project and buttons take up such little space to store. These are square green buttons, I wanted a minimalist look that wasn’t too ‘Hobbit’, much as they are my style icons. I don’t want to look like I’m cosplaying when I’m in a smart cafe. I obviously blocked the waistcoat before I started wearing it, but you can see in the photos above the lower part of the button band is quite wavy. I might try steam blocking next time I’m washing it, to make it look less handmade.

So far I’ve surprised myself by how wearable this little vest actually is! I guess I assumed it would be worn at the allotment or walking dogs but I’ve worn it mostly under an overshirt as an extra layer in my general day-to-day activities. I can foresee other versions in my future, possibly in navy…