Silk Collarless Waistcoat
Waistcoats Here are some photographs of a completed waistcoat I recently made. As you can see, it is of a silk brocade, and has no collar. This was fashionable during the 1860s, and became even more so over the years. Although collarless, it is cut with a band to take the place of the collar. The draft I used came from Devere’s Handbook of Practical Cutting, 1866.
Here is my draft:
After the pattern is complete, the fabric is cut out, marked with tailors tacks, and construction begins. Here, the front dart is basted together, then backstitched closed:
The dart is opened up on the inside, and pressed open. This fabric frays badly:
The dart from the right side:
Finally, the dart is topstitched, using a side stitch. The stitching needs to be nearly invisible, and is made a scant 16th of an inch away from the dart:
That’s it for the construction photos. For other details of the inside construction, please take a look at my Clerical patterned waistcoat. Here is a front view of the nearly finished waistcoat. At this point I am still looking for nicer glass buttons to better match the fancy silk. A final pressing is also necessary.
A somewhat lighter shot.
A closer look at the shoulder area. Notice how the stripes seem to lead toward the center back, in a graceful curve.
Pocket closeup. This silk proved very difficult to match due to the smoothness of the fabric, and also the dart placement. I used the period technique of using the lengthwise stripe to make the pocket welt.
A side shot showing the angle of the shoulder seam, and depth of the armscye. While a little deeper than a coat, the armscye comes up nearly to the armpit, to give a much better range of motion.
