Quote Originally Posted by Oddern View Post
That is a fantastic waistcoat.
I'm thinking of making me a tartan waitcoat too and I have a question maybe you can help me with. What is the purpose of making the vertical seams on the front of the waistcoat? I see that most waistcoats have them, but I can't understand why they are there. I see that your waistcoat also have these seams in the back.
Does it have anything to do with shaping the waistcoat to the body shape? couldn't that been done with the seams in the side of the waistcoat?
Skål!

I don't want to hijack the thread, but the the seams/darts in a waistcoat front are to make it fit better.What you are effectively doing is to make the front of the wiastcoat slightly bowed or rounded, the side seams don't make this difference. Some makers put seams in the back, this can reduce the ammount of cloth which is a good thing and maker a closer fit, but most commercial makers however use buckle and ties on the back which allows the it to be adjusted as required, thereby allowing a greater fit for more people.
There are lots of ways of making a waistcoat, I've seen some with 2 separate seams on each side of the front to make it fit tighter to the body,and I've seen some without any shaping, so there isn't really one way of doing it. We are all different shapes and sizes and the shaping is an attempt simpy to make it fit better, however we manage to make the shape isn't so critical.Working with tartan is always a problem is working out how to make the lines join up,but that is part of the fun!