The Stella Vest, here is how I made the first one.

Visibility really is a problem as it starts to get closer to Winter in Berlin.

 Bike riders or even pedestrians crossing the road can be difficult for car drivers to see. 

I made this reflective vest for my friend Stella.

 It is adjustable in the width so it can be worn over a t-shirt or over a bulky winter coat because there are no side seams.

The  centre back belt loop allows some vertical adjustment too because the belt can be threaded through the loop at different heights.

It is waist length at the front so it is comfortable to wear on a bicycle.

 More importantly, it isn´t UGLY.

Here are the nuts and bolts of it.

Feel free to recreate it,or make your own version, and stay safe.

 The material is stiff fleece backed technical fabric that was under my table. I found a bit more of it online.

 The starting point  ( the pattern in the background )is the Oblong in size 0 -3

The numbered squares on the grid are 10cm x 10cm.

It would be possible to redraw this pattern by ruling up a sheet of paper in 10cm x 10cm squares and drawing the shape below.

I would like to share the design decisions in case you would like to take them into account.

The neckedge is about 2.5cm wider than the Oblong so there is enough space for the collars of bulky jackets. The dart has been rotated about 1.5cm  because I thought it looked better parallel to the front neck edge.

 The brown paper "Front "pattern has a 1cm seam allowance at the neck, centre front and bottom edge. The "armhole " has no seam allowance because it is bound with bias tape.

The Back.

The back centre bank neck is also 2.5cm deeper to allow for some vertical length adjustment. The neck edge is finished with a back facing ( see below). The neck edge has 1cm seam allowance . I skipped the shoulder dart and there is no seam allowance around the edge because it is bias bound.

 

Front and Back facings .

The back neck facing is interfaced and stitched down. For the front, I used 3cm wide non-stretch interfacing band to stop the "V" points from stretching out.

 The inside edge of the front facing was overlocked and turned once to create pockets on the inside.

 The zipper is 25cm and open ended.

The front facings became a sneaky pockets.

One side gets a strap, the other a buckle. Attach the buckle like the photo and when the strap has been threaded through it, secure the end with a second buckle.

I have used 4cm buckles and webbing. I left the strap at about 80cm for the case of a VERY big coat or even to put on over a small back pack. (This might look ugly... sometimes you just have to do what you have to do..)

The centre back belt loop is 26cm centimetres long.  There is a 1cm double stitch at each end  the rest , 24cm is divided into 4 x 6cm sections;to allow for different back lengths.

 

This garment floats above the body and is at most semi-fitted. This one would fit up to a size 4 or so . I would use the same scale, with the Oblong as a starting point for larger ones.

I will be making some of these for the shop and see how they go before offering this as a formal project.

Let´s see what the Hive mind comes up with.

Please let me know how you go.

If you want one ,drop me an email : stokxpatterns@gmail.com

Thank you to @seanpauldenny for the cover photos and Veronica for modeling.

 Thank you Nicole for these photos of me leaving a bar.