Silver Sounds Samba Band

David and Olive Smart wearing the silver waistcoats that Olive made for the Silver Sounds Samba Band

Photo by Sally Ann Clarke

Making the silver waistcoats

By Olive Smart

You can see all the quilting with the black backing which goes over a blue T shirt or we have red hoodies. So in the winter this goes on top of the red hoodies. We played outside the [Jubilee] Library in the winter, when it opened and it went over the red hoodies then.

Sliver at the right price
We did have a problem getting the [silver] material, at the right price. There's a little shop along Blatchington Road [Hove] ... the lady in there was able to get the material for me. We had to buy a whole roll, more or less, so. [We] bought the whole roll and managed to make thirty waistcoats out of it.

Making the waistcoats
I suppose it took about....I did two or three a day, so I suppose you're talking about three weeks. This material was already backed, so I didn't have to line it or anything and just neaten the seams with binding and things. So it was quite a straightforward operation once they were all cut out.  Basically, there's about twenty-five of the average size, three large and two small. They all paid £10. Because it is home made, so to speak it had to be simple, the material had to be simple, but it had to be finished off in a way that its not going to fall apart. So, we did it the easiest way we could.

David and Olive Smart interviewed by Sally Ann Clarke 28th March 2006