James Williams

With all the preparatory work out of the way, we can begin installing the canvas. Begin by laying the forepart on top of the canvas, right sides up, and aligning the forepart at the darts, collar, and other visual landmarks. If you’ve not done this before I’d recommend starting on the side with the 1″ …

The last thing to do before installing the canvas is to add a bit of padding to the underside. I’m using a 100% wool quilt batting from Hobb’s Heirloom, which gives just the right amount of body without being overly thick. I first cut two layers of batting to very roughly the size of the …

We can now turn our attention to the collar canvas, which also must be attached with as few layers as possible. Begin by drawing in a line along the neck edge, twice the seam allowance in width. So using 3/8″ seam allowances, my line is 3/4″ from the edge. Beginning at the base of the …

With the canvas cut, we can move on to the construction, which involves closing any darts we may have to give shape to the waistcoat. We’ll be closing the darts along their raw edges – no seam allowances – to minimize the bulk in the canvas. With the right side up (you should have two …

With the pockets completed, it’s time to move on to the canvas construction. The canvas in a waistcoat or coat provides structure and shape to the garment and is usually made of linen. In my case since the waistcoat fabric is rather lightweight, I’m just using a piece of regular medium weight linen. Begin by …

The remaining breast pocket is constructed in the same manner as the other pockets, but the angle is a little steeper, so I thought I’d show a few little details to help you out. Here I’ve transferred the stripes to the pattern piece. The lack of a dart in this area makes it a little …

Take the other half of the pocket bag and fold under one long edge to the wrong side by 1/4″ to 1/2″ – doesn’t really matter as long as you have a deep enough pocket. Baste the pocket back to the pocket welt, wrong sides together, about 1/4″ below the top, or at least covering …

Now we’ll begin to form and reinforce the pocket welt to help it last a long time through all the abuse that will be thrown at it. First, cut a strip of linen on the grain, a little longer and wider than the pocket welt itself. Baste the linen to the wrong side of the …

Now that all the preparatory work is out of the way, we can carefully begin to cut the pockets open. First, fold the pocket in half along its length, aligning what will be the pocket opening as closely as possible. Then take a single cut with the scissors, about 1/4″ deep, from the folded edge, …

With the pocket areas reinforced, we can begin working on the pockets themselves. Although the waist pockets and breast pockets are constructed identically, there are a few slight changes in the breast pocket due to the steeper angle, so we’ll begin with the waist pockets. If you’ve never made a pocket like this before, I …