Fur Waistcoat
I was recently looking though the online William Notman collection of photos. I came across two photos showing unusual waistcoats. Both photos are from Montreal, Canada in 1868-69.
I recognized the material of the waistcoats as a very distinctive fur called astrakhan.
While astrakhan waistcoats were unknown to me, astrakhan was very fashionable in the 19th century. I've seen many examples of astrakhan coats, hats and capes so a fur waistcoat doesn't seem unreasonable, especially in the Canadian winter.
I have seen reference to fur and leather waistcoats for extra warmth. I also came across the photo below of a fur waistcoat a year ago on Pinterest. Unfortunately the source website is not in english, so the only info I have is a date of ca 1880s. It looks like the waistcoat might be made from seal or beaver fur or possibly even otter.
Left: Two gentlemen wearing astrakhan coats and caps, Montreal Canada 1876.
Right: 1880s fur waistcoat found on Pinterest.
As I happened to have some astrakhan that I had re-claimed from a 1980s coat I decided to proceed as soon as possible and re-create a waistcoat from the first photo.
A tailoring guide from 1878 gave me information on the construction of fur waistcoats I never would have gathered from the photographs, for example The fact that the back should be quilted.
From looking closely at the photos you can see the lack of visible buttons. this led me to beleave the buttons were hidden by a fly front. The 1878 tailoring guide confermd this by stating that fur waistcoats should be made with fly fronts.
This was my second time working with fur and my first time working with astrakhan, there were a few hicups but every thing went well and the result was exelent.
Below is the finished waistcoat.
