Fishing Vest

I am an avid fisher, but very small (5 feet tall), and I’ve never been able to find a fishing vest in my size.  The ones for children generally are less functional – fewer pockets, or pockets too small to fit my gear.

Then, last month, I discovered the Rogue River vest by Green Pepper.  It uses few notions, just zippers, D-rings, webbing to hold the D-rings, velcro, and one front clasp.  I used synthetic sheepskin for the little rectangle on the left pocket, instead of the real thing.  I wanted my vest to have a little more “girly” feel than most fishing vests, so I chose some fantastic 100% cotton quilting fabrics.  They are soft, pliable, and very cool to wear.

At first I worried that the fabrics were too lightweight, but as I worked away at sewing this vest, I became more and more glad for that feature.  The vest got heavier as I added more “stuff” – those zippers and D-rings do add weight!  Also, there are points where you are stitching through several layers of fabric AND the ends of a zipper, so you’d probably need a commercial sewing machine if you were using a heavier fabric like canvas or lightweight duck.

The vest has 8 zippers and 23 pockets(!) in total.  One pocket is the entire space between the back and the back lining, with a zipper to keep it closed.  I suppose I will store a bottle of water and maybe a lightweight rain poncho in there.

After many hours and days of sewing, I finally have the finished vest.  Despite choosing size Small, which is supposed to fit me, I ended up with a fishing vest that feels more like a Medium.  If I make it again, I’ll go for the Extra Small.  One other detail is that it calls for a 12″ separating zipper for the front, but in size Small it needs only a 10″ zipper – because I live 100km from the nearest fabric store, that detail became very important!  I ended up altering the zipper by using wire clippers to cut off several of the molded teeth from the top of the zipper, then using regular yarn to form zipper stops at the top edges.

All in all, it was a fun project to make, and I now have my own homemade fishing vest that I can really use!