Right. So you've put away your dressy holiday clothes, except for the ones that need to go to the dry cleaner due to some course of action you can't quite recall but are pretty sure your friends will rib you about for years to come.
It's time to return to Dressing Sensibly for the Weather in the Northern Hemisphere. It's time for a nice...LADIES' UNDER VEST.
In 1884 you could subscribe to The National Garment Cutter and use their graded rulers and curved ruler to draft up this practical garment.*
As somebody whose stay-at-home dressing during the winter months used to start with a base layer of Duofold long underwear, I appreciate this garment.
For winter wear, the vest would typically be made of white or natural colored wool flannel (about the weight used in lighter weight Pendleton flannel shirts.) Due to its bulk, sewing with flannel historically used some specific techniques, such as using a herringbone stitch to fix down the seam allowances.
Binding the raw edges would produce a tidier, but more time-consuming finish.
Then there are those 17 button holes.
And then finish it all off with a some pretty feather stitching.
All illustrations showing techniques are taken from this excellent source. Used copies are a little hard to find in the United States, but it's available on the Internet Archive.
* You can use this draft! It's based on a scaled units in which for a 32" bust, 1 unit = 1". For every bust measurement inch over 32, increase the unit by 1/16th of an inch. That is, for a 36" bust, 1 unit on the draft = 1 1/4". So, for the 1 1/2 units down from the top, you'd measure down 1 7/8." You'll also want a french curve ruler so that you don't have to draw the curved lines freehand.
Bear in mind that the vest would have been worn over a chemise and then a corset that molded the body to the fashionable shape for the period, so the proportions may need to be adjusted for the modern female body.
Personally I'd be tempted to mix and match time periods and make this up in a grunge-era plaid flannel with embroidery in an eye-watering magenta or neon lime green.
