I’m hesitating over making the piano shawl vest, only because I looked on eBay and found they are selling for anything up to a few hundred pounds. I was feeling nervous about cutting into the shawl before, now I’m paranoid about it! It’s hard to find examples of clothes made from these beautiful textiles, but I did find a blog post about them here.

I also found lots of Google references to the Spanish Manton de Manila which sounds a lot more romantic than a Piano shawl! Because of that, and as I’ll be wearing this capsule on my travels to Spain next year, I’ve changed the name of the SWAP.

Maybe listing the pros and cons will help

For
It’s a beautiful fabric that deserves to be used
I don’t want to sell it
I can create a unique garment without any extra expense
I’ll never use it as a piano shawl or wear it as it is.
The best designers do it:

Against
It’s potentially worth a lot
It’s in good condition so saleable (but I don’t want to sell it!)
Cutting it up seems somehow wrong
Do I really want a garment this bright?

I have some vintage silk in a lovely, soft, faded red that coordinates beautifully. The plan is to make Vogue 1263 without the sleeves, to get a look like this:

Kantha vest by Mieko Mintz

Vogue 1263

Kantha embroidery stabilises the shawl and joins the two layers. Coton a broder picks up the colours of the shawl.

Kantha wholecloth embroidery/quilting

So, do I take the plunge…….??

Thanks for reading. Comments are welcome!