Creating the Mobius Vest

I received a request for more information about the long Mobius vest in "How Did I Come to be a Spinner part 2".  

First, I need to mention I prefer multiple warp chains and designing in the reed/heddle when I am warping, which is also known as front to back. 

I also love the idea of shading stripes together using the Fibonacci number series.  This is a simple rigid heddle project. 

Here is a short version of the Mobius vest I made for my sister, worn with the shawl collar that only shows in the front, but not the back view.  Follow the white strip on the collar and you see it goes straight down the back by the side seam.  This is the magic of the single mobius fold.

First, this vest is basically two scarf-like lengths of handwoven fabric, whip stitched together partway up the back, and partway up the sides.  

The width of your two finished pieces of fabric needs to be 1/4 of the hip width where you want the vest to end.  It's always best to add an inch or two for ease.  It needs to be long enough to go up, over your shoulder, and down to your choice of vest length.  I weave it as one very long scarf.  

This piece has a double row of sewing machine stitching on both ends, before I wet finished it, like I do with all of my woven fabrics.  I also did a double row of machine stitching across the center so I could cut the lengths apart without raveling.   

Lay the two pieces side by side and whip stitch the back, center, selvedges together stopping about 3 inches from the back neckline.  With the stitched back-section up, fold each end out, one fold on each shoulder for the mobius name.  

Experiment with the angle of the fold on a piece of paper, the closer you are to 45 degrees, the shorter the collar will appear. 

After you make the shoulder fold you need to put the back underneath, and whip stitch the side selvedges together for a few inches.

These photos show how it looks if you reverse the inside to the outside, it shows a small collar in back with a raglan style cap sleeve in the front.