Progress

On the left, a trouser front with the bearer and fall welt pinned wrong side along the fall cut location. There is a strip of interfacing on the back centered on the future cut. Kanniks Korner directions have you sew everything, then cut the fall, which was done here.

On the right, the cut is made, the bearer tucked under, and the striped lining whipped over the cut edge. The welt gets folded, origami style, around an interfacing piece. More details are here. Super narrow fall on these babies.

The stock got a band and a five-piece faux bow. This is similar to neckware at GCV right down to the odd detail of both tails in back.  Here it is before gathering for the knot. Anyone who has made cockades or put bows on bonnets will recognize this. Once the bow and band are gathered and knot applied, the band end is sewn down. Stock finished.

Cossacks

So there's THIS guy.

He's hiding in the background of William Sidney Mount's Rustic Dance After A Sleigh Ride. The suit is damn fresh, but check out the pleats in those trousers. Early 19th century fashion went bonkers with trousers. There were tight, lower-calf hugging Pantaloons, Moschettos with feet or shoe tops like overalls. Breeches were still worn for dress occasions, but hipsters wore long pants.

Alexander I brought Cossack dress to London and the result was ridiculous. Think MC Hammer with stirrups. The remarkable number of these that survive in museum collections may indicate how embarrassed their wearers were after one outing in them.  Our hero appears to be wearing a less baggy version.

Holy hell. There might just be enough checked material left, but only if the legs are a reasonable dimension. The pleats might make the wearer look less frog-like. Since the coat turned out well, let's go back to Laughing Moon for the pattern. It includes most waist sizes for all the different crazy trouser patterns from the period, even a cord pattern for Pantaloon Trousers.

Remember the yellow trousers are too short on top and only come down to the ankles. Adding two inches to the top and three to the bottom solves both problems. Hopefully the stirrups will last awhile since they ride on the instep.

Here is the watch pocket bag pushed through the slit in the waistband and interfacing. A self fabric cover hides the bag back. Heaven forbid a bit of white shows when opening your pockets. Next time more stock progress and Cossacks continue.

Know Your Enemy

The sight of a recreated company of properly-dressed, shaved, 18th-century soldiers emerging from the woods their ancestors fought over never fails to thrill. These New Englanders covered 16 miles in two 80+ degree days in New Jersey. Historians among them regaled the others with the actual events of the 1778 Battle of Monmouth, a deluxe battlefield tour.

Camp followers marched with them: stays adding an extra layer of misery to the process. Monmouth County was a wasteland in the late 1770's. The long coastline allowed the British to come and go at will. Escaped slaves were armed by the Crown and returned to torment their former owners. Whigs gave up fighting openly and began secretly retaliating against anything vaguely Tory (including Quakers.)

The Pine Barrens hid a den of horse thieves, pirates, and smugglers. Old religious and county grudges returned. A group of civilian reenactors attempted to recreate this strife for the march, but were thwarted. The lesson is no plan survives first contact with the event site.

At first glance, volunteers/employees and historic interpreters have much in common. They share a love of history and feel strongly about surviving objects and buildings. Sadly, humans fear change and are hostile to outsiders. Negotiations sometimes fail. The volunteers are at the site every day. It feels like home to them. Interpreters can appear arrogant when told a metal bread cooking device can be operated with the feet (hence, toe stir) or a pair of fireplace tongs are for when cows choke (cud-puller.) It's hard to relate to someone who says: "just stand there and don't touch anything." Hours of kindness can sometimes gain trust. In the end "the plan" never trickles down to the people who spend every day on site. The event planners need to be flexible and understanding.

  On a more positive note, here is the buckram Federal neck stock with checked cotton whipped over it. The buckle can be found here, but needs to be removed from it's mount. Another piece of buckram is used for the tongue. The body is lined, and some originals have soft leather chin guards to keep the cloth from fraying.

Next up: a band with a faux bow to complete the project.

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.