Most of the front of a waistcoat is done by hand anyway so no problem there but the back is all done by machine because when you sew it all up you're sewing together 5 or 6 layers which if done by hand is well, difficult. I did it all anyway by Thursday evening but wasnt really happy with how it turned out. It just wasnt very smooth, there was some flap on the back that appeared out of nowhere and it was way too tight. After wearing that monkey waistcoat in the summer I wasnt sure if I was going to wear another small one. I said I'd get up Friday morning at 7 anyway, do the buttons and buttonholes and see what I think then.
I went out that night with a couple lads from school for a few pints and the first thing one of them tells me on hearing about my waistcoat predicament is that his mam has a sewing machine. Feck I could have used that earlier, would have saved me 10 hours hand stitching everything. We went out anyway and I didnt get to bed til after 2 but I did manage to get up for 7. Last time I made a buttonhole it took me 45 minutes and with the wedding at 1.30 it was looking like I was going to be pretty tight for time. I decided not to use gimp to save time and somehow they ended up only taking me about 25 minutes each. I'd never sewn a button in before but luckily they only took a few minutes each. They weren't the highest quality buttonholes I'd ever sewn but at least they all looked the same.
It was just after 11am and I was a couple hours ahead of schedule so started thinking about using my mates mams sewing machine. He didnt answer my text due to being asleep so I called down to his house hoping someone was there. Luckily he was just getting up so I got to work. First though I had to unpick all my stitches which took almost an hour cause I made them real tight thinking that they might unravel. By the time I got through all that it was 12.30, the wedding was in an hour and my waistcoat was in 3 separate pieces. Despite being made a few centuries ago the sewing machine worked smoothly enough thankfully.
Now with zig-zag technology!
By 12.48 I was finished, pulled it outside out, saw that it looked alright and got out of there. Got a lift home, had a shower, got dressed, pressed the waistcoat but didnt put it on cause it wasnt finished yet, got a needle and thread, and jumped in the car down to the church. Arrived with ten minutes to spare so got to work removing all the basting thread and sewing down the straps.
I still had more to do but decided I should probably pay attention to the wedding so left it til the afters. All I had to do now was sew up the gaping holes in one side that you leave so you can turn the waistcoat inside out so I figured that wouldnt take me too long. I will get to wear it today after all.
After all that messing, the lack of sleep, and some mulled wine in a comfy couch in front of an open fire I started feeling well sleepy. When I was finally finished I put it on and it got worse cause it was just that little bit tight which meant I had to breathe really shallow (shallowly?) or risk losing a button. Well its official, shallow breathing makes me feel sleepy cause sure enough my head started nodding around wildly and I couldnt keep my eyes open. I may have had a little sleep and then we went for loads of pints and a big dinner which didnt help at all. But I looked good and thats all that matters. Didnt think to take any photos at the time of course so here's one from later:
