11 Great Vest Patterns to Invest In

If you don’t have a vest in your wardrobe, it’s time to make one! Vests have become a wardrobe staple in the past few years. Why? They’re versatile and can be worn over a shirt, alone, and in any season. (Yes, even summer — fashion blog High Snobiety has declared sweater vests “a summer 2024 essential.”) Oversize or shrunken, cable or mesh, tunic length or cropped, one of the 11 patterns on this list might be your next wardrobe essential!

Free Vest Pattern: Crochet + Knitting

Agnes Sweater Vest

As you may have heard, we around here at The Yarn Queen do love a good granny square. The Agnes Sweater Vest pattern by Bethany Lynne Makes uses crochet granny squares that are stitched together. Then you’ll knit the ribbing at the collar, arm holes and hem to finish it off. You could make this out of Urth Harvest Worsted. Or, if you wanted some really interesting colour effects, you could use Urth Uneek Worsted or Urth Monokrom Worsted.

Vest Kits

Vest Knitting Patterns

Make Myself Flowers

The Make Myself Flowers vest pattern by Vexnot Studio has a definite Marimekko vibe. It’s constructed as two halves, using intarsia for the flowers, and then seamed at the shoulders and sides. It was designed for Wool and the Gang’s Shiny Happy Cotton plus a fine mohair yarn; we would recommend Urth Yarns’ Bonmoher.

Pressed Flowers Vest

The Pressed Flowers Vest pattern by Amy Christoffers is worked bottom up in the round and uses mosaic, twisted stitches and more. The instructions are written and charted. Reviewers say that it is clearly written. It calls for two yarns, a main colour and a contrast colour; based on the sample, Urth Spiral Grain Sport and Urth Harvest Fingering would be a good choice.

Schemer Slipover

You have probably seen plenty of photos of women wearing vests over shirts with giant sleeves. It can be a struggle to get those big sleeves through the tiny vest armholes…unless you are wearing the Schemer Slipover by Apella Knits. With video tutorials, an adventurous beginner with a couple of projects under their belt could take this one on — and with techniques such as stockinette stitch, 1/1 half twisted rib, German short rows and more in the mix, it can keep the interest of even a more advanced knitter. Zealana Kauri Worsted would be a great fit for this pattern.

The Academic

Love Fair Isle? Want it minus the sleeves and with a V neck — and unisex? The Academic sweater pattern by Skiendeer Knits ticks all of those boxes. It is worked seamlessly in the round, and because you are only working with a maximum of two colours on any given round, it’s a bit less intimidating to make, but still eye-catching. It would be positively luxurious knitted in Juniper Moon Farm’s Patagonia Organic Merino.

Get a Drip Vest

Disguise your ice cream drips with the Get a Drip Vest pattern by Anxious Girl Knits! It is a funnel neck sweater that uses intarsia for the swirly pattern. It is slightly oversized for a relaxed look over a shirt, but is still very wearable on its own. Wool and the Gang’s Alpachino Merino has some great colour combinations for this vest.

Sway Line Slipover Tee

The Sway Line Slipover Tee pattern makes a vest with a bit of a cap sleeve to it. It has slits at the side which allow for flexibility when wearing it over something (and also make it easier to do a part-tuck of that vest, if that’s your look). It is knit top down, entirely seamlessly. This vest has both a funnel-neck and a crew-neck option. The pattern also includes video instruction for all of the techniques used. For maximum cuddliness, Broadway Merino DK is your best bet.

CP01 Slipover Vest

The CP01 slipover vest pattern by Minimi Design is meant to anchor a capsule wardrobe. It is worked seamlessly from the top down, and allows you to modify the length, whether you want a cropped vest or a tunic. A little fuzz makes this even better, and Kauri Worsted would give the ideal look here.

Tessellated Vest

Andrea Mowry of Drea Renee Knits has designed yet another excellent item with the Tessellated Vest pattern. It is a mosaic vest that is worked in the round from the bottom up until it splits, and then it is worked flat. And you will get to use heaps of techniques when making this! 2×2 tubular cast on, 2×2 tubular bind off. mosaic knitting – slipping stitches, backwards loop cast on, cable cast on, reading charts, increasing, decreasing, regular bind off, picking up stitches and more. This is a project that will always keep you interested! If you are looking for two great yarns to use for this, Urth Spiral Grain and Urth 16 will be your go-tos.

Vest Crochet Pattern

See My Vest

The See My Vest crochet pattern by Zeens and Roger allows for many different colours, or one solid colour. It uses a granny stitch and is crocheted from the bottom up. Reviewers say the pattern is clearly written and easy to crochet. While they used an acrylic yarn for their samples, we would recommend Broadway Purely Wool DK for its wide range of colours at a moderate price.

Disclaimer: We do not test every pattern that we list. (We wish we could but we have a yarn shop to run!) We do a lot of research to see if patterns are well reviewed and seem well written. But it is possible that something will slip by us. We hope you love these patterns and let us know if they do not meet your expectations!