Napoleon: Power and Splendor

These are trying times. The Deckard coat collar is too small and needs to come off. The prosthetic side burns failed miserably. There are two weeks left to finish some 1830's trousers. Solution: road trip. Kitty and his Drunkenness spent the weekend in Richmond, with Saturday devoted to the fabulous exhibit at the VMFA. I can't say enough good things about the museum or the exhibit. It is what history museums should be. No detail was too small: the walls are etched with French Imperial motifs, wind-tossed trees are projected around hunting displays, large gold objects get blue gel filters to make them even more magnificent. The exhibit focuses on the household rather than the man. The food and cocktails at the restaurant are also sublime.

Equally pleasing was being reunited with the Regency Society of Virginia. They took most of these photos, arranged the outing in costume, and are always welcoming. The meta aspects of touring a museum in clothing worn by America's earliest tourists gratified us. As did the obvious military influence on our fashion reflected in the paintings. Kitty's hussar waistcoat and my cossack trousers and chapeau are late 18th to early 19th century cargo pants and camo. The nostalgia of dressing up for an outing was a bonus.

The emotional aspects and the interactions with the public are unique to this outing. The time period allows for expanded roles: sketching parties, collecting insects and plants for study, recreating leisure time with leisure time.

Napoleon is on exhibit in Richmond till September 3rd, 2018. See it if you can. Make sure to call and ask if you want to attend dressed up.

The only way to exceed the ridiculousness of 1820's clothing is to venture later into adolescent America. A battle reenactment of a battle reenactment. See you in the 1830s. Hoping the skunks stay away.

GCM After Action Report

Well, it's comfortable. Genesee Country Village's early 19th century weekend made an excellent place to test the Summer tail coat. None of the interior seams are finished, the sleeves are not lined and the cuffs just tacked on.  It was way too hot to button anything.

After some initial confusion, our group of seven and a half settled in two different buildings. Rather than interpret a trade we formed a party of well-off folks at leisure, sketching our surroundings with period implements. Using a camera lucida is remarkably difficult, but that may be because it required a bench.

The old trousers and waistcoat made the outfit bearable, but changes are required. These were fine to start, but the yellow pants are not tall enough, and the linen waistcoat is too long. I find these chaps inspiring. Some checked trousers with stirrups perhaps?

The coat revealed some interesting issues. One arm appears to be 3/8" longer than the other. It may be an anatomical problem. Since the sleeves need to be a tad longer it was easy to roll one cuff down slightly more, and make up the difference on the back of the other.

The maddening droop of the overlapping front is fixable. Kitty pressed her face to one of the displays at Genesee (without even being asked) and found two small internal buttons on a period coat. These engage the top and bottom button holes of the right front to hold it up.  Time to whip over the cut lining edges, line the sleeves, and return to the blue neck stock. Last, trousers and a short waist coat.

Pad Stitching Continued

The clock is ticking. Better to race to finish things rather than enjoy the process. Communing with harassed ancestors is what it's all about.  This is the first project with two layers of interfacing, the lining stuff is much lighter. Widely spaced pad stitching holds it over the shoulder to the back.

The right front lining gets a pocket. Here is the bag front stitched on and pushed through the opening. A welt will cover the hole. There is a surviving Federal tail coat with welted pockets on the outside of the tails too, so that's next. It also has simple turn back cuffs.

Another interesting feature is the lining back yoke. Often these are just a flap, this one gets some firm interfacing and a light pad stitch. Here it's sitting on a linen waistcoat and shirt for fit. In period garments this just hangs down, sometimes the bottom edge is pinked. It provides a broad foundation for the horse collar to come.

Strange as it sounds at first, the outer collar is sewn to this neck edge. The under collar, with all it's pad stitching is sewn to the coat body. Furious pad stitching on the lapels holds them up. Where they meet the collar needs to be resolved before the lining goes in. Stay tuned.

Pad Stitching

Preserv'ed Tailor remembered his apron this past weekend. The Craven County militia captain appreciated his service and there were extra monies. Our hero used them to pay the laundresses to darn his stockings.  To refine things further, a small box would be useful. Time to add shaving supplies, cleaning brushes &c. Interactions with the other men, sutlers, and laundresses are becoming more refined and realistic.

The 1771 rebellion of farmers in the North Carolina backcountry added a whole new dimension to being a servant. Shoot at the poor in the morning, refill the rich officer's ink pot so he can write out fines for militia infractions in the afternoon. The ironic circle of history.

The fitting pattern for the tailcoat required quite a bit of material removed around the back seams. Ideally, this should be taken from the middle of the fronts in a vertical line. The lazy way (shown here) wrecks havoc with the arm holes. Material needs to be added to make them vertical and right on the edge of the shoulder. With the test sleeve fitted, a savage chalking by Kitty corrected this. This coat is loaded with interfacing, and all of it, as well as the lining and body bits, need to be tuned to the fitting pattern.

Weak past attempts at pad stitching will not do for this coat. It's time to turn to an expert. Whichever evil knucklehead refined pad stitching for men's collars, it has been done this way on bespoke suits ever since. Left handedness is not helpful here. Rory makes it look easy. The under collar has the appearance of a pox sufferer.

Time to cut cloth. Sadly, laundering made it very soft and removed much of the hand it once had. Here is the under collar draped across the coat lining, which gets a light pad stitch to hold the shoulder shape. Our demonic familiar observes the proceedings with some interest. Similar dense stitching is needed on the coat body lapel to match the collar.

The collar interfacing needs trimming and the edges will be turned. The edges of the lining interfacing get whipped to the body to prevent movement. The right one gets a pocket.  We'll do that next time. ALSO: more pad stitching.

Federal Era Revised

Five years have passed since we tried our hand at an early 19th century tailcoat. John Lewis Krimmel provides some great inspiration, rocking out at the Wayside Inn. May have to forego the bullwhip, but checks and a cigar are always welcome.

The older the sewing efforts, the more horrifying the garment. The tailcoat pattern included some guesswork. It's remarkably helpful to have someone who knows surviving clothes well locate all the problems with the copy.

This sexy beast is in the URI Collection (1967.13.17) and known as the "Stonington Plaid." Details can be found here. Everything we want: mismatched pattern seams, fake pocket flaps, tail and breast pockets, unlined linen. Aside from input from Dr. Hammer, the Laughing Moon pattern will be our start point. A cotton fitting pattern will be used for sleeves and collar testing.

Considering how well it fits, the 2011 coat has serious issues. The neck opening is huge, probably why it doesn't hug the neck on the right side.  The front panels are the wrong shape, so the arm openings are strange. The back pieces are way too big, and for some bizarre reason the back sleeve seams are not centered. While we are at it, all the current early 19th century trousers are not tall enough. Might as well make news ones.

This was good, but we can do better. Next time: fitting pattern.