Peter Rosegger learnt the trade of a tailor. For four and a half years, he accompanied master tailor Ignaz Orthofer: first as an apprentice sturgeon tailor, then as a journeyman sturgeon tailor. He worked alongside his master on 67 different farms in the area.
His journeyman's piece was this men's brocade waistcoat. He made it for Andreas Weber (Hirzer estate) in Zimmersdorf in 1863 in the presence of his master. In 1901, his brother Johann Weber gave the waistcoat to Rosegger's friend Toni Schruf, hotelier in Mürzzuschlag and founder of the Mürzzuschlag Rosegger Society, so that he could furnish the newly created Rosegger parlour in Mürzzuschlag with it.