Historical Sew Fortnightly: A Very Late Separate

A good two months after the deadline for HSF #16, I finally finished my separate: a waistcoat to go along with my pirate outfit. In my defense, I was busy packing and moving my life across the state and then starting a school year. I did start working on it a month after the due date, going so far as to cut out and sew together the front and back pieces, but then I got stalled by 1) finding the right lining, 2) finding the right buttons 3) hand-sewing the eyelets for the back lacing, 4) figuring out what to do for trim, and 5) hand-sewing all the buttons on. While I'm no longer afraid of say, hand-sewing hems and lining and such, something about little round things (eyelets and buttons!) makes me want to procrastinate forever. It took me a month to get around to eyelets, and another month to find, color, and sew on the buttons. Even though it took way longer than it should have, I'm still pretty pleased with the result!

Cecily is much bustier than I am, so it doesn't hang on her quite the same way. 

After much hemming and hawing, I finally settled on using the last of my bright fuschia cotton sateen to line the front of the waistcoat. I had just barely enough! The back is plain black linen, unlined.

Oops, it needs ironing...but you can see the oversized pocket flap and twill tape trim. 

And now, buttoned up...

Originally the buttons had cheap-looking clear plastic rhinestone centers, but I used a Sharpie to color them in to match the lining and the red bits of the brocade. I settled for using a very close zigzag stitch as my only "trim" since the brocade was busy enough. 

Back view. Note how the front pieces extend over the top of the shoulder, as they should in this time period.

A close-up of my eyelets. Yes, I know, I went to all the trouble of making hand-worked eyelets in silk thread, then used polyester ribbon to lace it. 

Side view.

Summary:

The Challenge: Make a separate that can be used to mix and match with existing wardrobe pieces to make different outfits...yeah, so this waistcoat really only goes with one outfit, but considering that Leimomi was the one to suggest making the waistcoat for the separates challenge, I'll give myself a pass there. 

Fabric: One and a third yards of 100% polyester brocade from Joann's for the front, one yard of 100% linen for the back, one and a third yards of cotton sateen with some lycra in it for the lining. As I said above, I had only barely enough to make the pattern fit! I've never used up a fabric so thoroughly before!

Notions: Black twill tape for the pocket trim, black bias tape to finish the armholes, black ribbon for the back lacing, and lots of plastic "gold" buttons. While I would have loved metal buttons, I couldn't find any I liked in my price range and the appropriate size. I finally settled on these buttons with the rhinestone center, but the lightness was too stark a contrast with the dark brocade, so I ended up Sharpie-ing them red to match the lining. 

Pattern: Simplicity 4923 again, which is surprisingly accurate in terms of shapes of pattern pieces...I did modify it a bit to make the back pieces smaller and to make it lace in the back. I mostly used this pattern made from an extant piece to inform my changes. When I was cutting and sewing the pocket flaps, I totally goofed and cut them the same size as the coat's pocket flaps; they were way too big, but I didn't feel like redoing them. Go big or go home, right? 

Year: Early 1700s...ish.

How historically accurate is it? Ummm...maybe 10% at best? It's more historically inspired, but I did do a lot of research on early 1700s waistcoats to get a similar shape and look. 

Hours to complete: I'd guess twenty hours spread out over a couple months. 

First worn: Not yet...still getting all my things together for a (hopefully) epic photoshoot!

Total cost: $25 or thereabouts. I broke my stashbusting pledge to get the brocade, but at least I used up the rest of the fuschia sateen!

I'm pleased as punch seeing how nicely it goes with the pirate coat (which does need a bit of ironing after being packed away in a box, though)!