All this week I’m writing about the different things I made for our wedding, hopefully it will inspire someone else to have a ‘handmade wedding’!

Day three, it’s the boys turn! I’d made my wedding dress over the summer holidays, then my daughters bridesmaid dress, my next job was to make all the boys a waistcoat each. I had four to make altogether, two fancy ones for the groom and the bestman, and two simpler ones for the ushers. Ken’s eldest son was his bestman, he did a fantastic job, especially considering he was only 16 years old. Our two remaining sons were ushers.

I was quite surprised on the recent Great British Sewing Bee TV programme that very few of the contestants had made a waistcoat before, they’re not difficult once you understand the construction, then it’s just a matter of accurate sewing to get neat points. I chose a Simplicity pattern that would do all sizes, it was single breasted with false welt pockets.

After bringing various brocade samples home without success I took them all down to Bombay Stores in Bradford where to my surprise they chose a striking but beautiful red and gold silk for the groom and the bestman, and a rich red silk for the ushers.

I interlined the waistcoats fronts with batting to give them a rich feel and lined the fancy ones with a shot taffeta and the usher’s waistcoats with satin. Gold buttons and a buckle on the back belt completed the waistcoats.