House of Edgar tweed question

[Tim Little]

Thanks, Kyle!

Good suggestion re: the buttons on the waistcoat; the thought had indeed crossed my mind already.

In fact, that waistcoat is a bit of a disappointment. It's the one I bought some time ago from New Jersey Piper, but I'd not worn it with a kilt prior to the above photos being taken. As you will note if you look closely, the bottom "tabs" of the waistcoat have been folded up and under so as not to compeltely overlap the sporran cantle! This has the effect of turning a 5-button waistcoat into a 3-button waistcoat. I don't think it's an issue of sizing: it's a small (37-39), and fits quite well otherwise; it just doesn't seem to be well-cut to wear with a kilt, ironically. (The neckline is also much lower-cut than a typical 5-button waistcoat.) It would certainly do in a pinch, however I'd want to pin or tack up the tabs more permanently.

Thus I'm still on the search for a proper waistcoat. I do like the look of the tartan/bottle green both with the above jacket and the grey houndstooth my mother-in-law recently converted for me (below):



As an alternative to going with a dark green waistcoat this "lovat green"* waistcoat from Highland House of Fraser (formerly Hector Russell of Inverness, apparently) also caught my eye:



... but of course without being able to directly compare the fabric it's hard to tell whether it would be a suitable match or just "close, but no cigar."

* I tend to think of "lovat green" as being a bit mintier or bluer in hue than the HHoF vest pictured, but it could just be the lighting in their photograph. I think the pix I've posted of the HoE jacket fabric are pretty close to "true" -- it's really a very interesting mid-tone green/warm-grey with a subtle herringbone pattern as you can see above... and apparently very tough to match!