When she's not painting, sewing or visiting her daughters in three
different states, Tonya Cook of North Little Rock, Arkansas, likes to
find new uses for discards. She turned her husband's old ties and worn
jeans into stylish vests and is currently embellishing garage-sale
suitcases for her grandchildren. Tonya also works as a volunteer in the
emergency-room trauma center at the local medical center. ("I like to be
where the action is.")

YOU'LL NEED: Purchased vest pattern; 2 or more old neckties; old jeans
and a man's shirt or similar fabrics (use the heavy material for outside
of fronts only or for fronts and back; use the thinner material for
lining only or for lining and back); matching thread; silk pins or
lightweight tape.

TO MAKE: 
1. Following your pattern, cut the vest and lining from fabrics. If you're 
    using old jeans and shirts, stitch pieces of the fabrics together to fit the 
    pattern. 
2. Securely pin or tape sections of the neckties to the vest fronts, matching 
    raw edges. (Leave tie sides folded as when worn; don't cut off the backs.) 
    Add pieces of shirt collars along the neck and scatter interesting fabric 
    labels between the ties if you like. 
3. With matching thread, stitch pieces in place along their edges. 
4. Complete the vest.