Done

The mid-18th century coat is complete. Our next project will be British military clothing from the Revolution, meanwhile here are some pictures.
 

I am delighted with how all the interfacing helped shape the pleats and the back. The back pieces are slightly too narrow, but the coat fits well. Huzzah!

Sleeves

The end is in sight. For whatever reason, my sleeve kung-fu is strong. They look short in the picture, but mid-18th century cuffs tended to be large, so the sleeves ended right above the wrist joint.

The arm openings are rather large as compared to later in the century. I decided not to line the sleeves, since the coat is heavy already. All that is left is to finish the neck opening and turn all the body lining seams and back stitch them. Next time, the finished product.

Pressing

If you don't have The Cut of Men's Clothes 1600-1900 by Norah Waugh, get it. There are lots of patterns and tons of great quotes: "The art of the tailor consists above all in cutting and pressing--the latter process giving the garment the elegant durable shape it should have. This operation, which is very delicate, is sufficient in itself to give a garment a good or a bad shape, according to the way in which it is executed, for it can spoil one which has been well cut out and improve another whose cut has been imperfect." the pleats on the left have been pressed, the ones on the right, not so much. I think this is as improved as the imperfect cut is going to get.

Long have I wished for this view, so I added it myself. Here are finished pleats as seen from below. Tacks and brides are still needed to keep them from opening up too much.

The finish line is near--sleeves, cuffs and finish the bottom hem.

Fitting

M. de Garsault tells us: "Before sewing the fronts to the backs, pin them together and check by the measurements. Sew the armhole down to where the pleats begin, then sew the shoulder seams..." I'm not sure how this was done in the 18th century. Women were fitted for stays and had their gowns put together on them. Since the lining seams are open, I have pinned them out of the way, and buttoned the coat inside out on my form.

The center back seam looks a bit wonky, so I'll need to take more out of that by pinning and marking it with chalk. Adjustable men's dress forms are hard to find, but vastly superior to stabbing yourself with pins and bleeding on your project.

Here is the mess from the front. I only made the mistake of fitting a coat WITHOUT a shirt and waistcoat on the form once. Perhaps the best part about having a form is it allows you to step back and say "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED THERE?" And "THAT'S NOT STRAIGHT! I HATE SEWING."

After all the side and shoulder seams are back-stitched, the lining seams are turned under. These are pinned together and whip-stitched, then I can try it on.  Next time more grumbling.

Cuffs

The cuffs for the mid-century coat are tiny garments unto themselves. Here they are with one inside out to show the interfacing. You can see there will be four buttons on each to match the pocket flaps.

These babies will be non-functional and stupid large (though not as ridiculous as say the 1740s.) I may reduce the length of the interfacing slightly to have more to turn under, into the sleeve. Next time we start fitting the body.

Progress

Greetings!
Having just returned from an arduous journey to the colony of Pennsylvania, I thought I might post a small update.The buttonhole process is half done on the mid-18th century coat. 

To be honest I haven't really decided how the cuffs and collar of this garment should look. Plenty of options out there. Mostly I am trying to decide how lazy I am. If my button supply holds out and I am a masochist I can add four buttons (and faux buttonholes) to each cuff. I guess that beats sailor-style cuffs that actually work.

The giant pile of reference books near the bed yielded some inspiration. John Collet's The Recruiting Sergeant could keep me busy sewing for the rest of my life, and the lad taking the King's shilling appears to be wearing the coat I'm making.

So no need for a collar. This would even be a good excuse to leave the cuffs plain, but none of my other civilian coats have buttons so......

The back of the coat is "done." By done I mean it is lined, the center back pleats are in, and there are four buttonholes in it. Still to do: fold the side pleats, add buttons, and hem the bottom. All that has to wait for the fronts.

Wish  I could stop thinking about the stripey waistcoat on Collet's Sergeant.

Buttons

Eighteenth-century tailors had an interesting way of attaching buttons. Clothing was built to last. Buttons sewn on with thread are apt to fall off. Eventually, the cloth will rip. Besides--what if you wanted to change your buttons?

Below the four buttons in the picture are two helpful tools: a small bone awl and a glass rod. The trick is to poke holes in the cloth without damaging the threads. Start small and gradually enlarge the openings till the button shanks fit.

Using a large needle, thread 1/4" linen tape through the button shanks. Cut the tape just slightly longer than the space between the buttons (leather thong and cord was also used.) The tape is then stitched to the interfacing. Let's see those *&^%$ buttons fall off now.