The pattern itself is very simple, just five main pieces, and the pockets. So you would think that I wouldn't be able to mess that up. And you would be wrong!!! But more on that later!
Pockets:
This is the first jacket and the fabric is a suiting weight cotton - lovely fabric. I have made one pair of pants for myself out of them and will be . . . . oh yes, pockets! I followed the Vogue instructions for the double welt pockets. I marked, tailor tacked, chalked and sewing with absolute precision - you can see the 'dog's dinner' that resulted in these next pics. What a bummer. Mr. SDSC couldn't see the problem (bless him, he is a keeper), so I just determined to try a different method for the next versions.
I used this tutorial for single welt pockets. I am happier with the results although they are not perfect. If you have an 'idiot proof' way of doing welts, I am all ears! Please let me know!
I've also made myself a skirt and a pair of trousers out of this houndstooth! Sadly it is all gone now. It drapes beautifully so I was sorry to see it go.
Oops. This last photo is a bit wobbly! The fabric here is black denim. A dream to sew with.
Oh, and I finished off with some fun fabric on the pocket lining that is back to back with the front of the waistcoat. The pocket lining that you can just see above the welt, is the fashion fabric as it is likely that that would show. And it does.
Back Ties
To me, the back ties are part and parcel of a man's waistcoat, and the pattern has you sew them into the side seam, then sew them down onto the back piece about 3" in from the side seam. Like this:
There was just too much 'hanging down' for me, and the tie itself was also stretched to it's limit, so for the next two versions I shortened the ties and attached them in the back darts. I checked a couple of other patterns and that was what they did. If it was good enough for them - it was good enough for me!
Lining
The lining consists of a back piece, the front facing which is interfaced and cut from the fashion fabric, and the front side piece which is cut from the lining fabric. It is all 'bagged' and sewn together with a gap left in one of the side lining seams, and then edge and top-stitched to within an inch of it's life:
Except that with the houndstooth I cut the front side panel (seen above as the black lining) out of the houndstooth fabric. Doh! I didn't have any more houndstooth, so for that version the lining is edge to edge, and appears to work well. The interfacing had to be adhered to the front piece of the waistcoast rather than the facing, but it does not appear to have caused any issues.
Buttons and Label
There is nothing much to say about the buttons, just plain black ones. As far as the buttonholes were concerned, my Pfaff let me down again - I don't know what the problem is with the automatic buttonholer, I just cannot get consistent buttonholes with it, so I resorted to my Singer Featherweight and the buttonholer (from the 50's/60's) attachment and it produced fabulous buttonholes. These are 5/8" buttons and holes, but I'll probably make the holes larger next time, as Mr. SDSC is losing some dexterity in his fingers :(
Nothing else left to do other than sew on one of my labels 'Private Collection by twotoast' that I get a real kick out of using!
Phew, that was quite a lot of info - anymore top tips' for waistcoats?
Very nicely done.
ReplyDeleteGood work. Mr twotoast must be very happy.
ReplyDelete