The design for the velvet of this pocket flap was woven specifically to fit its exact shape. By the 1730s French silk manufacturers were weaving their velvets to fit the configuration of waistcoat fronts, accommodating the curving centre front edge, bottom hem and pocket flaps. This technique was called <i>à disposition</i> or ‘woven-to-shape’. In this snuff-coloured silk of the 1750s, the characteristically Rococo design of flowers, lambrequined scrolls and meandering rope-like motif has been created in cut, uncut and voided velvet.
What makes this waistcoat particularly exceptional is its back, made of a rare piece of cotton velvet. In this early example of 18th century corduroy, the wales of light brown cotton have been woven in a decorative pattern, imitating that of silk velvet. Determining the place of manufacture for these two distinctive velvets is difficult. English weavers in Spitalfields, London copied French silks in both design and technique. While Lancashire was a well-known centre for cotton weaving, by the 1750s Rouen, in France, was beginning to compete in the production of cotton textiles.