Possible Waistcoat Fabrics

Timothy and I have been working like fiends trying to find the best possible match for the Waistcoat. Sure, I found the original fabric from Henry Bertrand, but since they won't sell it it doesn't do us any good. I also found some possible looking jaqcuards from Anjoorian Silks, but ran into the same problem: she only wholesales and won't sell to the public. If you can order through a store or designer, you might be interested in looking at them. Caveat: not a clue what the scale is! And again, the fabric would need to be dyed or painted. <http://www.anjoorian.com/new-silk-brocades.html> The NB-01a and NB-02b are close for pattern.

The Rust (RL Number: LCF13555F) and Riding Coat (RL Number: LCF17782F) are possibilities, but it looks too much like a wall covering. They are apparently sold through Home Depot, although I didn't see them in the swatches at mine. According to it's specs it's got a 19" vertical repeat which sounds like a pretty huge design, might not be suitable for the waistcoat - best to check a swatch first. It's also cotton with a soil repellent, don't know whether that would effect the fabric quality or not. Nice color though. <http://rlhome.polo.com/rlhome/products/fabric/items.asp?haid=69&f=lp&start=0>

This fabric, by Richloom (I think it's called Esprit Cardinal?) I found at my local Joann's in the upholstery section. It should be sku #7169980. It kept attracting my attention, although it's hard to tell from this small 2" x 4" swatch. It's a cotton/poly so there is a shine to it (either the background or the flower pattern depending on which side out you use) although not a lot. Basically it's a cabbage rose design. Mostly what it had going for it was that the pattern wasn't geometric, had a good fill level, and had a nice balance of large and small design in it.

<http://store.schindlersfabrics.com/u031604074.html> This had us very excited until we got the swatch! Turned out to be a chenille fabric with no shine at all - just a difference between the napped and un-napped sections. It also seemed more viney than frondy in design.

This was one of my first finds <http://www.housefabric.com/ProductDetail.asp?ProductID=4386>. I thought I had found something perfect! It wasn't too bad on the price, but getting a swatch cost $5 - refundable when you order the same fabric. So I figured I might as order the fabric. $23 later (shipping can be expensive on fabric) what looked to be perfect in the swatch, as you might be able to tell from the measure-tape scan is absolutely huge! And it looks much more pomegranate design than frondish than the website seemed. <sigh> It had an interesting color: House of Fabric calls this Deauville Terracotta, but it's much more of a wine color. But with the pattern turning out so large, there's way too much empty space in the design - just not suitable for this waistcoat. What a shame, it did have nice shine, though.

Fabric.com has some interesting looking jacquards, but they turned out to be much too large for clothing (always get a swatch). This one at least they give you an idea of the scale. But as it's a cotton/poly you'd probably have to paint it to get the red color since there's only this cream and a green color. <http://www.fabric.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=3923f572-4285-4f48-a148-51cd91a81473>

Fonthill in Candy Apple from Lady Ann Fabrics found in sample book Colorworks Vol III <http://shop.store.yahoo.com/swags-galore/swatches.html> (scroll down for several colors of Fonthill). The repeat on this is only 4", so that could work nicely for clothing.

Here's another we found at Joann's: Zenaida Paprika sku#7557960 it comes in another shade that I thought was a litlte too orange, this is more like a terracotta (which if you look at the kitchen scene, is one of the colors the waistcoat shows). This has good shine quality to it, but it is a little more viney and all one size in the pattern. One friend felt the Richloom was better than the Zenaida because it had a varied design size rather than all the same. I thought this might be better because it had better shine. Depends on the compromise you go for.

So when a friend found this at her local Hancock Fabric... the design was great, nicely filled in, good balance of large and small aspects, definately shiny (it's polyester), even textured - it's a matelasse so it is dimensional. She and I got very excited. The only drawback is that it comes in gold, not red which means you have to change the color. And since it's polyester the only way to do that is to paint it. It does loose some of the shine when it's painted, but the matelasse definately "pops". It's very interesting. <http://www.hancockfabrics.com/shopping/search/searchresultsmain.jsp?fresh=1&searchType=advanced&iMainCat=0&iSubCat=0&attribute14=0&attribute15=0&attribute16=0&RS=1&keyword=Derby>
It's called Derby Deocrator fabric in Brush.