Evening Dress Waistcoats
Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 7:45 am
I have noticed a couple of discussions of late involving people who wanted a double breasted dress waistcoat but were unable to find one suitable. Of course, that means the only genuine solution is bespoke.
The trouble with this sort of thing, unfortunately, is that most tailors rarely make dress waistcoats these days. Many will be sent scampering back to their old textbooks or even yellowing study notes from decades past. In fact, most tailors have to think about things a little to make any double breasted waistcoat.
I thought I would create this little post for anyone tempted to try a double breast dress waistcoat and wanted to make things as easy for their tailors as possible. That may even translate to saved time for the tailor, who may pass the saving on (time=money in a small business).
The source text is Archibald A. Whife, writing in a major 1950's West End tailoring text. For details see my Bibliography thread.
http://www.cutterandtailor.com/forum
My suggested source for marcella in this instance is here:
http://www.acornfabrics.com/classic_fabric_list.html
You will need about 1m of double width cloth which can be purchased through their website. Tailors are unlikely to have any such washing fabrics in their swatch books.
Later I will also post Philip Dellafera's chapter on making up DB waistcoats. Given how seldom tailors today are called on to make DB waistcoats, taking a printout of the article when placing an order may be worthwhile.
http://www.cutterandtailor.com/forum
The trouble with this sort of thing, unfortunately, is that most tailors rarely make dress waistcoats these days. Many will be sent scampering back to their old textbooks or even yellowing study notes from decades past. In fact, most tailors have to think about things a little to make any double breasted waistcoat.
I thought I would create this little post for anyone tempted to try a double breast dress waistcoat and wanted to make things as easy for their tailors as possible. That may even translate to saved time for the tailor, who may pass the saving on (time=money in a small business).
The source text is Archibald A. Whife, writing in a major 1950's West End tailoring text. For details see my Bibliography thread.
http://www.cutterandtailor.com/forum
My suggested source for marcella in this instance is here:
http://www.acornfabrics.com/classic_fabric_list.html
You will need about 1m of double width cloth which can be purchased through their website. Tailors are unlikely to have any such washing fabrics in their swatch books.
Later I will also post Philip Dellafera's chapter on making up DB waistcoats. Given how seldom tailors today are called on to make DB waistcoats, taking a printout of the article when placing an order may be worthwhile.
http://www.cutterandtailor.com/forum
