So I finished my Belle Dress quite a while ago and I've had some questions about how I did the vest. The vest was the hardest part and I'm not completely satisfied with how mine turned out. If I could do it again I'd probably make some changes to it. But for those who'd like to know how I made mine, here are some pictures.
I did not use a pattern for the vest but if you want to use a pattern I'm sure there are plenty of vest patterns available that could be made to work for Belle's vest. The biggest problem with the vest is that I wanted mine to be just like the movie one that didn't have a zipper or any openings on the back. I spend so much time brainstorming ideas on how to make this vest without a zipper. I ended up adding extra length to the side of the vest where it laces up. I added enough length that I could slip the vest on over my shoulders (or over my hips? but either would work).
When the vest is laced up the excess fabric is cinched so that you can't tell that the vest is extra big.
The back of the dress has two darts and I made the neckline higher up than most vest patterns are. The front piece that goes over the red fabric is actually a table cloth I found and I used embroidery thread to add the decorative stitches. It was very time consuming but those stitches are my favorite part of the whole vest.
That's pretty much all I have to say for making the vest. If have any questions let me know and I"ll do my best to answer them. They say a picture is better than a thousand words so I hope the pictures will help. Below are a few more pictures of my vest and my finished costume.
