My boyfriend had a waistcoat that was too thin for him. So we gave this one to the newbie who was slim and I made a new piece for my boyfriend. He was so kind as to take the pattern from the old one (I don't like the work:)). You must take a pattern paper, lay a piece of clothes on it and put these on a carpet. Then go along the seams of each panel with a tracing wheel. The outline will be visible on a paper, then you may retrace it with a marker.
You can see how I enlarged the pattern - I measured him at a chest, waist and hips and added evenly to each seam what was missing.
I put this pattern on two layers of twill. I had very little fabric, so I had to lay some of the pieces upside down. But on an ordinary twill, this shouldn't matter.
I pinned the fabric carefully before cutting.
I made the front panels and the back panel and sewed them together in side and shoulder seams.
To neaten the neckline and armholes I used bias tape. Home made:-)
I have a special tool for it. I cut a bias strip of twice the width, thread it in the tool, then I can go with it before the iron and get a strip with two sides folded in.
I sewed the bias on in one fold, right sides together...
..then I turned it over the hem and sewed near the edge of the bias. I was quite pleased with the result.
To iron up the lower hem, I marked twice the width. When ironing, I just laid the edge on this line. Much easier then my previous methods:-D
Another method I used to iron the bracers. I ironed them around a paper pattern.
The waistcoat. You may notice the light and dark strips. Unfortunately, the twill was not normal, it coloured my machine black and apparently had to have some nap. But I know I couldn't lay all the pieces head up (lack of fabric) and it shouldn't be visible in the fire light at all.
A completed new fire costume:)