Decisions, decisions.... I'm trying to figure out how I want my jacket waist to adjust. Most women's winter jackets have an adjustable cord and toggle at the waist. However, I wanted my jacket to have the look and feel of a trench coat, but without a long dangling belt.

So, I added a waistband tab to each side of my jacket starting from the front princess seams to just past the side seams. The waistband tab sits at my waist, below my armpit vent and above a pocket flap. This is what my jacket looks like so far:

I have a couple of different things I could do with this. I need your help to decide.

Originally, I was thinking of adding snaps, as I had seen on other trench-like winter jackets. It would look something like this:


The problem with this option is that, because of my pocket flap and the stiffness of the fabric, all the gathering would happen in a small area between the snap and the pocket flap end, instead of between the snap and the princess seam.


This might look funny and/or cause the pocket to stick out.

Another option would be to added a third tab (like a belt) across the back and have it secured by buttons. Below is what this might look like (I folded the jacket over so I could use the other tab to demonstrate).


I like that it now looks more belted, like a trench coat. I also like that this would spread the gathering across the back. Another plus, is that I could have matching buttons on the pocket flaps. Although, I would probably make the pocket flap button larger, like in the original Burdastyle pattern example:


The third option would be to added buckles. This would still give me some adjustability. Some nice brass buckles like this could work:


It would also look more belted and spread the gathering across the back. Although, I do worry that the fabric is slippery enough that it would keep sliding out of the buckles.

So, my options are:

1. snaps
2. buttons
3. buckles

What do you think?