The Tuxedo part three

So when last we left The Tuxedo, I had the brilliant (I thought) idea to put darts into the jacket back to take up the extra material at the waist.  Turns out, I am not nearly as brilliant as I think I am.  The back darts were a hot mess.  They made the jacket look like it had a peplum.  Of course, I didn't give up on the idea quickly  -- you could even say I was a bit relentless about it.  I modified the slope and angle of the darts several times but was still unhappy about the way they caused the bottom of the jacket to flare.  Finally, in desperation I took out the darts and did what I should have done in the first place which is to take out all of the excess by aggressively angling the center seam. Below is a picture of that seam and you can see how much larger the seam is in the middle.  (Take a moment to admire my handmade/pad stitched shoulder pads that are showing in the upper corners of the photo)

 Pictures of back seam -- before adjustment

After adjustment:

Unfortunately, once the back seam was fitted, the vent gaped open worse than ever.  I finally just opened up the vent and pinned the material so there was a nice closed center back seam with enough material to comfortably cover what needed to be covered.  I then hand stitched that into place.  After that the fit was perfect but the model was a bit surly about having any more pictures taken.  (In addition to the back seam and vent adjustments, I also pegged the leg of the pants a bit and made the jacket a little shorter than the first fitting).

While I was relieved that the fit was right, I was feeling pressure to move things along a bit faster. Luckily the jacket front vent pocket and the interior pockets went together very smoothly. I structured the interior pockets so they are not an integral part of the lining.  Apparently that is a thing in fine tailoring and I was at least still pretending to be doing fine tailoring.  Foreshadowing -- all pretense would drop away when I hit the buttonhole challenge.

Front welt pocket (which turned out easier than I thought it would be and as far as I am concerned is a thing of beauty)

Interior pockets (prior to lining being added to the jacket)

Large pocket, right front

Small pocket (just the right size for a wedding band) lower left front

So, the worst was over, right?  Just lining and buttonholes to do at this point and then I could go back to finishing the wedding gown and ultimately reach the real goal -- getting back to making clothes for myself.  Turns out buttons and buttonholes almost defeated me.  Later post will provide more details.