Waistcoats Unique - Biography

Waistcoat Biography by Jackie Wills - 22 April 2008

Briefly - there are many gaps to fill - some things I really do not want to write about.

I left secondary modern school aged 16 with just a couple of CSE grade ones a not a clue what I wanted to do with my life. I had two or three short term jobs before I landed a job in the Tourist Industry that lasted nine years. Aged 27 - I knew I was capable of so much more and if I did not make the move now I never would. This was prompted by a sarcastic comment from a then boyfriend.

Textiles had always played a great part in my life - up until this moment purely as a hobby. Time had come to sell my work. I went to London and was commissioned by an Interior Designer in Sloane Street - this gave me the confidence to go to London again to earn more commissions. Amazingly I was commissioned again by another Interior Designer in Chelsea - who subsequently offered me a job in her fabulous Interior Design Showroom.

To the amazement of all friends, family and co-workers I left life in Torquay to work in London. It was a massive change in lifestyle. Handsewing for so many years gave me a great insite into how colour works, how shapes and proportion work. I was employed for my colour skills and probably general textile enthusiasm! See website www.patchworktemplates.com

Creating waistcoats became an idea during the late 1980s' I had worked very seriously creating handsewn patchwork for the previous 10 years or so, sadly it became apparent that I would not be able to make a realistic living creating and selling very labour intensive handsewn work. Bearing in mind that I was single and I had earn to support myself and had no backup so I had to consider other options. It was a case of giving up working with textiles or find another way to use my skills.

1989 - approx The first waistcoat I made was a complicated design created out of black moire fabric and many hundreds of handsewn chintz hexagons. Photographed below. My friend helped me with the pattern and machine sewed the waistcoat together (at the time I was living in London without a sewing machine). Waistcoats were fashionable in the late 1980's - and perhaps it seemed an obvious solution.

Over 200 handsewn glazed chintz hexagons included in design - variety of fabrics including Charles Hammond Glazed Cotton Chintz, Plain cotton chintz, Moire, Synthetic textiles. - the first I ever made it represents lots and lots of handsewn work - its been worn alot - its travelled alot - I have hand washed it before and it came out OK. short waistcoat described as ladies size 14-16 but could be unisex garment. The back is plain black Moire fabric. no front fastenings.

1989 - Second Waistcoat - on vacation in Tampa - Florida - (wearing waistcoat above) - a friend of Charles (then boyfriend) asked me to make a waistcoat for her photographer boyfriend - it had to be colourful and had to represent the area where we were going to shortly travel - Suttons Island - (Mount Desert Island , Maine) I went to Walmart bought some colourful chintz fabrics (so cheap in those days) and borrowed a really old cronky sewing machine which did not work properly. Big problem on Suttons Island - at the time nearest sewing machine repair shop was several hours away via boat and car). So I just had to make do..............Below images of David Audet wearing waistcoat that was commissioned for him. It was a great learning curve creating this waistcoat - the sewing machine was rubbish - needle blunt - could not get another, which made the fabric pucker - also the threads I had were limited. However the waistcoat worked and proved a great success.

1991 - After a series of amazing events - (do you want all this detail?) I returned to hometown of Torquay - to open a workshop with the Devon Rural Skills Trust at Cockington Court. My business plan was to teach textile related crafts and sell patchwork related items (craft kits etc) and quilts and home decor items.

I still had the idea of making and selling waistcoats at the back of my mind - but priority was definitely selling and teaching patchwork - having made the above "first waistcoat" realised that again - handsewing was not a realistic option because of its labour intensity. People just would not pay for the amount of work involved. Having acquired loads of great furnishing fabrics in London I started experimenting with machine patchwork which lead to creating machine patchwork designs, which lead to creating crazy patchwork waistcoats. These waistcoats were mostly made out of glazed cotton chintz and I managed to sell them quite easily. I had an old singer sewing machine and worked most the time with zig-zag stitch. Some images below: - I have got quite a few images from this time - do you want to see them?

There were lots of creative craftspeople at Cockington Court and ideas were always been thrown around - it was a great environment - then one day a lady gave me an old pair of jeans and made a suggested that I should make a waistcoat out of them. It was the first time that I had ever worked with denim. It was a great challenge - and really loved working with denim because it was firm to sew. The potential seemed limitless! - The first waistcoat I made in denim is below:

below- 2nd denim waistcoat - I must have picked up some denim in America - because I remember Having a small amount - enough for two front panels - I remember cutting the panels and then soaking them in a bit of weak bleach - and was thrilled with the result - coincidently the |”fish” that can be seen
occured naturally - it was a great result..........the next problem was to buy denim in UK - I could only buy 2 or 3 yards at a time because my budget was so limited! It sold almost the moment I finished it. Note there is no embroiderey on these two waistcoats - just acryllic paint.

Below - several of many waistcoats (not sure how many probably about 30-40) created whilst at Cockington Court 1991-2 - Using blue indigo denim - colour discharging then adding acrylic paint, machine embroidery and also adding patchwork pieces of denim for added enhancement.

I learnt by experimenting - each waistcoat taught me something new - its fair to say that even designs I considered a disaster always sold...... sometimes several years later!!

For some reason I always photographed my work - It has proved an invaluable move because you do forget......its great to have these visual records.

1991-2 Started using black denim and a longer waistcoat pattern
Th1e first of this kind for several reasons - was really heavy - made of peices black denim patchworked together with embroidery - no paint - still use this pattern for my garments 17 years later! Still prefer using black denim to indigo denim - this was a really clever garment - I wore it myself for many years - although my friend Jenny is modelling it here - soon after it was made.

1991-2 Long waistcoat as below using blue patchworked denim - with a small amount of embroidery - no paint - this pattern is great for covering up bottoms - its a practical garment.

During this time I continued to experiment with chintz and created as series of waistcoats using the Fibonacci Sequence of numbers - one of these waistcoats can be seen below - below right - mostly handsewn - below left see fibonacci article on website www.jackiewills.co.uk the crazy waistcoat on the right was made using chintz, silk, corderoy and upholstery fabric and was not mathmatical just random fabric.

commission

image - left - commission - shows the "golden section" based on Fibonacci sequence of numbers

About this time 1991-2 I found some great fabric in Totnes Market - it was called Amadeus - (below) perfect for waistcoats - mixing with glazed cotton chintz and machine embroidery. Must have sold at least 40 using this fabric - still have some fabric left - it will be interesting to see how the 2008 version turns out!

During this time I was selling at Cockington Court - commissions and from the shop - also during this time I sold at the Higher Street Gallery in Dartmouth and also Seymour Gallery in Totnes. Also Attended local shows and did small exhibitions.

created many musical theme waistcoats - others can be seem in picasa web album links

Still enjoyed using glazed cotton chintz and created quite a few waistcoats inspired by the windows of Buckfast Abbey - see below - others can be seen in picasa web albums following link from webpage.

Devon Rural Skills Trust vacated workshops at Cockington Court - there was an option to stay on but the rent was too high - so for a few months started working and selling my garments and patchwork in a small shop in Torquay - also at the time I was working on a commission basis at the Seymour Gallery in Totnes. This all ended rather suddenly when I met Gordon in 1994 - bit of a fairytale story really - happily we are still together as I write this in 2008 - my life changed in too many ways to mention - over the last 14 years some very bad but also very good things happened - all these highs and lows undoubtably changed the way my mind created. - do you really want this detail?????

From 1994 to present I have had the freedom to spend hours experimenting with denim - constantly improving and adding new techniques and methods. My latest garments can be seen following links from websites. Still not done with denim - so much more I want to do.

recent waistcoats can be found after REF 62 - picasa web album waistcoats for sale

I began working from home from time I met Gordon - selling my work via galleries, shops, shows and commissions. From about 1996 to present I have sold my work at Brigid Foleys’ designer clothes shop in Tavistock. Sometimes months would pass without doing anything new - then a “flash” inspiration when nothing stops me from working the new idea out. Its a tremendous feeling crossing new bounderies!

I have not had a textile education - left school at 16 - so all my work has been self taught. Its true to say that dedication and determination has paid off. I now have a life I love and never take it for granted.

Without question the greatest change has been the use of technology and the internet. Had my first website about 1999 - and now I could not manage my business without it. Its been a terrific force - allowing me to sell my work worldwide - but on the negative side it does take much time keeping up to speed, tweaking websites, learning new technologies etc etc.

Over the years have been greatly inspired by sea and moorland.........

I really could write in depth about how I work, motivation, etc etc - but would anyone be really interested!