Double Breasted Waistcoat: The Construction

So, this is the construction page for the Double breasted waistcoat I started in May of 2015, and finally finished at the end of January, 2016.  Nope, there won't be too much information on the garment on this page--already did that on the documentation post.  Sadly, there are also photos missing because they either got lost, or I forgot to take them.


The Documentation Post can be found HERE.  You should probably read it first.  Or second.  Not sure if it actually matters, really.

 The fabrics:  A heavy synthetic brocade I picked up some years ago--I think it was in the Joanns red tag section.  Cotton plaid "homespun" was used for the lining and patterning.  The collar and front is supported with natural cotton duck.

This may have been mark one of the pattern, or not.  Either way, the shape was the same--mark one was just slightly too small, since I forgot the appropriate ease.  Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the drafting process--don't know why not, but next time I make a waistcoat (and I do have a couple of fabrics in my stash for it) I'll do a proper writeup of that.  After redrafting, I made it slightly large, and later brought it in at the waist.
As you can see, it has a sloped shoulder. 

Ah!  The front canvassing set in place.  At this point, I basted the canvassing in place--I really should have done so in such a way that I could leave the basting in.  You can also see the shape of the double breast.

 The double breast is sewn on.  Very carefully, I might add--getting the pattern aligned was a pain and required much basting, since one edge was slightly on the bias, and the other straight.
The pins are marking the location of the pockets (or two of them, anyways).

The welt and the top of the pocket bag are sewn in place.  Both were carefully pattern matched using my paper welt pattern method (tutorial coming someday, since the photos I know I took this time seem to be missing).

 Behind the pocket, a piece of linen is basted into place to help support the pocket.

The welt and top of the pocket have been turned to the inside, and the pocket bag sewn in place.

The finished pocket, turned, press, and basted in place for the remaining stages of construction.

After drafting the collar (undercollar and canvas, two piece), I loosely pad stitched the two layers in order to permanently fuse them together.  However, because I wanted to be able to wear the collar in a variety of ways, I decided to not shape the stand and fall.

The top and bottom collar were sewn together with ease for turning (so the seam would be under the collar, rather than on the side), turned and pressed.  The undercollar was basted into place, then permanently sewn.  I decided to cross stitch the seam allowances down after grading them, then the topcollar was crosstitched in place.

The facing was sewn down to the canvassing with a cross stitch.  The first stage of hemming was done likewise, with a cross stitch (around all edges, including the armscyes).

 First part of sewing in the lining--pinning that sucker in place.  I chose to do it this method rather than bag lining for neatness and control.  Takes longer, but it's worth it, I feel.

All the lining edges were trimmed, and turned under so that it is around 1/4th of an inch under--that way it is invisible from the outside.

Thread buttons--total failure.  Don't try to make flat wrapped thread buttons over a glass core--far to slippery.

 Instead, I made cloth covered ones.  Far more satisfying, even if not as fancy as thread wrapped ones.  The tutorial of how I made them is HERE.

At this point, I had sewn on side of buttons on.  I matched up the sides and ran pins through to mark the location on the other side.

Completed waistcoat.

© John Frey, 2016. The Author of this work retains full copyright for this material. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial private research or educational purposes provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.  Photographs of my work may not be duplicated.