Tag Archives : Buttonhole

New project: Corduroy waistcoat, in royal blue!


It’s been a while now since I last got down to some serious sewing. I did the tweed jacket upcycle in the Autumn, but that was only a little hand-stitching. Since then I bought a new sewing machine, and to be honest it’s been sitting there, silent, taunting me, willing me to just get down to it. So, with a…

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Trouser Tuesday: Companion Denim jeans, tweaked to 11


In the past two years I’ve bought some pretty decent denim. I could mention the Iron Hearts, all Japanese ruggedness, or the Livids, made by four hands in Norway, the Steel Feathers, designed in Norway and made by Japanese craftsmen, or the Tenders, quirkily British and hand dyed. This time though I wanted something even more different, and when I…

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Tweed jacket upcycle project: Day four – final stitches and all done!


Last week I posted part four of my Harris Tweed jacket upcycling project. If you’re only just coming to find it, you’ll want to read back to the original idea outlined here, and part one here , part two here and part three here. I’ll wait patiently until you’re up to speed on what is going on here at the Laboratory of Total Tweedism. The previous part saw…

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Tweed jacket upcycle project: Day three – steam and rework


Last week I posted part three of my Harris Tweed jacket upcycling project. If you’re only just coming to find it, you’ll want to read back to the original idea outlined here, and part one here and part two here. I’ll wait patiently until you’re up to speed on what is going on here at the Laboratory of Total Tweedism. At the end of…

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Trouser Tuesday: Toast does Harris Tweed


This is the first part of 4 where I’ll be taking a look at tweed trousers. I’ll feature a mid-range pair, a low-end pair, and rather unusual pair, and an expensive pair, which also happen to be maybe the silliest trousers around. To start things off I’ll go with the mid-range, then we’ll work our way along, week by week.…

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Waistcoat Wednesday: Version 4 is all about the stripes


I know, I’ve been late in delivering the next iteration of the Waistcoat Project. To be honest, this one caused me so much trouble it almost sunk the entire project. The Singer just totally refused to do the buttonholes for me. So much so that I’ve since invested in a vintage Singer for future buttonhole duties. The issues with the…

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A mantique addition to the Waistcoat Laboratory


Regular readers will no doubt have noticed that there has been something of an upsurge in the art of sewing here at Well Dressed Mansion, even going so far as to establish the Waistcoat Laboratory. The Waistcoat Lab is on a mission to evolve and improve the common waistcoat through a series of increasingly elaborate garments designed and assembled by…

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Tip: How to get buttoned up


Something I’d never really considered before I started trying to dress better were the complicated and seemingly well known, yet largely unwritten, rules of how to button up the various types of garment. To me it seemed quite obvious that if there was a button and a corresponding button-hole, then it intended to be buttoned up. Easy-peasy, nothing to worry…

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