First try at a waistcoat

[DrLang]

Thank you everyone for your input on this. I decided to just finish this up. Some areas were starting to look a little abused. I let out the sides by about a full inch and moved the strap upward about an inch. I'm happy with this as a first waistcoat. I've updated my patterns and have plenty of notes to improve the next one. Looks like my last press after washing out the tailors chalk could have been a lot better...

I'm now thinking about trying my hand at a coat to finish the ensemble. Rather than trying to fight with an old draft, I'm debating between investing in Müller and Son's Suit Jackets book or approaching the one tailor left in my city who drafts and cuts in house to see if they would be willing to draft a pattern for me on contract.

[Gerry]

Thank you everyone for your input on this. I decided to just finish this up. Some areas were starting to look a little abused.

For a first attempt, that's pretty good. Well done.

With waistcoats, it's typical to use cheap shirting for the back until the pattern is finalised. All the adjustments and stitching (even basting) can scar the cloth, particularly silk. To reiterate what you've already discovered:

For fittings, always baste, never cut darts, leave inlay.

Again, well done!

[Greger]

Was looking at some photos of another person who had a tailor make a coat for him. Kind of the same body shape that you have. This tailor didn't know how to cut a pattern for this customers body. Before you buy a pattern from a tailor, if you do that, ask to see pictures of his customers that have bodies similar to yours. No sense in having the same problems.
This one old tailor said that he would take a measurement from the nape of the neck to the location of the main button that buttons. Nape of neck is in the back at the bone that juts. Just rub the back of your neck, up and down the spine, and you will feel it. Minus the seam allowances the lenght should be fairly close on the finished pattern lenght. I think a good location for that button is at the part of the belly that sticks out the most. Years ago this one man got his coats made and the button stance was to high. So the bulge of his belly spilled out in front. It made him look larger there. At the final fitting you decide what looks best on you as to where it goes. The purpose of this measurement is that you have the right length. It's a check measured, if pattern doesn't put there (lack of length). As you know patterns are not reliable. As a small boy I was told that button is 5/8 inch below the waistline on average coat. Poulin has a different method of buttons location and bottom of the roll line. Some set the bottom of the lapel to start rolling higher or lower. I like a definitive curve jutting out instead of gentle or none. How you shape the lapel, nice curl (padstitching), can distract from the belly. Tailoring is full of many methods to distract. I would rather have a coat that amazes the viewer of its quality than people noticing all of my physical defects because of some "perfect fit") nonsense. An excellent lapel draws attention away from the belly, and what ever the problem is, such as, stooped posture,etc.
Read some books that tell about inlays. This way you know where to put them. You might add a few more.
I recommend using a muslin cloth. If the pattern is way off you will be glad the cheap cloth is lost instead of the fine cloth of the coat. When it is safe to use the fine cloth your pattern should be way closer to a good fit. Still add inlays, because the cloth will be thicker and handle different.
Another book to download. The Modern Tailor Outfitter And Clother. There are three volumes. Number One  has something about the Donlon Wedge. The location to download is somewhere on this website.

[DrLang]

Was looking at some photos of another person who had a tailor make a coat for him. Kind of the same body shape that you have. This tailor didn't know how to cut a pattern for this customers body. Before you buy a pattern from a tailor, if you do that, ask to see pictures of his customers that have bodies similar to yours. No sense in having the same problems.

Thank you for this warning in particular. I know I have seen photos on the website of at least one local MTM tailor that are just clearly not correctly fitting. An obsession with slim fit suits on people that don't have a slim fit suit body. Not that I am judging them if that's what their clients want.

This makes me a little hesitant to even try this now. It will surely be an awkward  exchange if I look at photos and decide to move on. Maybe I should just go with a modern Rundschau draft and draw it up myself.

Come to think of it, I am a little bit surprised that the hollow back is not a very standard adjustment considering the modern ubiquity of sedentary office jobs. But I have a generally hard time finding clear guidance on how to address it. I don't know how my experience with this waistcoat will translate to a coat. Obviously the coat should not be so form fitting, but trying to move the excess down had minimal effect. The best I could come up with was from watching one person slash the pattern at the CB and close it up a bit. Well, this will be an adventure!

[Greger]

MTM, probably only a few tailors among them. MTM doesn't have real fittings. They pick the closest pattern and then send it off to factory and it comes back completed. the only change available is the sleeve hem and hem of trousers. they don't own the pattern to give/sell you a copy. the pattern is probably at the factory.

The battery is about done. I'll write some more later about patterns.

[DrLang]

Yeah I'm aware of that about MTM. There are a surprising number of MTM tailors around here for the size of the city. I have found at least one, possibly two, that do full in house bespoke. They are likely the only ones. Those are the two I am considering approaching.