1840s Ivory silk waistcoat
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1845-1855 Ivory patterned silk waistcoat.
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The back of the waistcoat
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Detail of the back showing the ties
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Detail of the fabric
Description
The ivory silk of the foreparts has a woven pattern of flower sprays in a satin weave with blue details, on a ground of grosgrain.
The waistcoat is single breasted with five self-covered buttons and worked buttonholes. The roll collar has top-stitching along its edge, as do the tops of the welted pockets on each forepart; the welts are 5⅜" long and ⅝" deep..
The lining and the back are of white cotton twill; the back has a centre seam, open 1½" above the hem, from where the lower edges slope away. There are small gussets in the hem, 1" wide and 2" high, 1½" in from each side seam.
Straps of the cotton are sewn into the side seams at the back waist, 3" wide at the sides narrowing to 1¼" where they meet at the centre; a vertical row of stitches attaches them to the back 3¼" along from the seams. Their mitred ends have ⅝" long worked buttonholes, and a length of white silk ribbon, ⅝" wide, has its centre point sewn to the centre back seam, each end threaded through the buttonholes, to tie for adjusting the waist size. Two more lengths of the ribbon are sewn about 3" up, 3" each side of the centre for further waist adjustment; they have been folded to ⅜" wide where they are sewn.
The front hems have facings of fawn leather 1" in from the front edges, where they are 1¾" deep, narrowing to 1" at the sides.
Contemporary illustrations
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Detail from a fashion plate, Moda di Parigi in Corriere delle Dame, 1841
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Portrait of a Major General John Liddell of the Bombay Army by George Duncan Beechey, c.1840
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Fashion plate Musée des Modes, 1842
Contemporary items
More waistcoats from the Hopkins Collection can be seen in Waistcoats, published by The School of Historical Dress and available from the Hopkins Costume Trust bookshop.