Creating an Impression: An 1830s Outfit

Up until now I've mostly focused on the later part of the Victorian era, tending toward the '80s and '90s. However, in about a year (and yes, apparently you need to book a spot that far in advance) I will be attending a dinner cook-along at Old Sturbridge Village with my wife, my sister, and brother-in-law. I thought it would be a fun idea to dress up for it.

If you aren't familiar with Old Sturbridge Village, it's a living history museum in central Massachusetts. The village consists of 40 or so restored buildings, and costumed interpreters performing the crafts and daily activities of the early 19th century. Even though the web site states that the range of the village is 1790-1840, it seems that most of the clothing is from the mid- to late-1830s (I know that one of the primary sources for clothing is the 1838 Workwoman's Guide).

Dandys, 1830
from Wikipedia Commons

Men's fashion, 1837
from Wikipedia Commons

Jacket and trousers, 1825-1830
from Les Arts Decoratifs

Cossack trousers, 1833
from The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The problem with researching clothes from the 1830s is that most of what you can find (at least online) for pictures are of fashion prints and clothes from museums. These are great if you want to recreate a dandy or gentleman, but if you want someone who will fit in at a farming village - that is, something beyond the wasp-waisted (and probably corseted) man in Cossack trousers with stirrups, you need to look a little further. I discovered the paintings of William Sidney Mount.

Mount lived from 1807 to 1868, and became famous for depicting scenes of everyday life. In particular to my interests, many of those paintings are from the mid-'30s. Now that's what I'm talking about! Next time I'll go over some specific points about the outfits, and make a list of what I'd like to make for this outfit, in a running series. Until then, I'll leave you with some pictures.

The Breakdown
William Sidney Mount, 1835
from The Athenaeum

Farmers Nooning
William Sidney Mount, 1836
from The Athenaeum

Raffling for the Goose
William Sidney Mount, 1837
from The Athenaeum

Award Night

Well I'll be! I'll have to admit that until my last post I wasn't even sure if anyone was actually reading my blog, so now I'm even more flattered to receive the Very Inspiring Blogger Award nomination from Marijke. She commented on one of my first posts, so I know she's been following along for a while.

In order to accept this award, there are some rules:

• Display the award and link back to the person who nominated you.
• State 7 facts about yourself.
• Nominate 15 bloggers for the award.
• Notify the winners.

I guess I'm a little confused about the last one. Does that mean notify the 15 bloggers who you've nominated? I'll go with that.

Seven Facts About Myself

1. I'm a cocktail geek (some might say snob). My favourite cocktail is the old fashioned, but the old fashioned old fashioned, not the horrible thing that developed in the 1950's. I'm talking about the one that appeared in 1862 in the first bartender's guide ever, written by Jerry Thomas: sugar, bitters, and whiskey, over ice, with a twist of lemon. No muddled fruit. No soda water. Just sugar, bitters, and whiskey. Yum.
2. I've hiked all 2,100 miles of the Appalachian Trail, all 2,600 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, and over 2,000 miles of the Continental Divide Trail. That's a total of a year and a half of living outdoors every day, sleeping either in a tent or under the stars.
3. I wore a kilt for three years, eschewing trousers.
4. Although I reside in Boston, MA, I've lived in England (W. Yorkshire) and France (Alpes-Maritimes and Ariège) as well as spending two months traveling around Ireland.
5. My wedding was steampunk-themed (though if you read this blog you probably already know that).
6. I've been brewing beer for nine years, and although I mostly concentrate on English session styles, my favourite, and the one I've brewed the most, is a black pepper saison.
7. I sew things other than Victorian outfits. I should probably start a side blog for my modern clothing....

Nominate 15 Bloggers for the Award

Blogs by men, detailing men's sewing and tailoring:

1. Drunktailor - With a blog change it's hard to keep up with the Drunk Tailor! But I like his goal of producing clothing that the masses would have worn, not the elite.
2. Passion for the Past - Ken participates in living history in Michigan, concentrating on the Civil War era. I like that he and most of his family portrays civilians. There are plenty of military reenactors.
3. For the Love of History - Jim not only makes reproduction clothing based on the Gold Rush era of California, but also recreates many of the personal objects of the people of that time. I'm in awe of his skills.
4. Williams Clothiers - Although the site is a storefront for James Williams' period tailoring service, he also makes posts about drafting patterns and other costuming thoughts, and the gallery is drool-worthy. I've never seen so many photos of pad stitching in one place.
5. Male Pattern Boldness - What can I say about Peter that hasn't been said already? A sewing ambassador.
6. The Japanese Pattern Challenge - A blog started to publicly learn to sew, Mainelydad has long since done so, and has raised the bar to try new and exciting things. There are also one or two Victorian-style projects on his site.
7. TaylorTailor - Taylor wanted a pair of jeans, so he learned to sew, then he learned to draft his own patterns, and then he opened a shop selling hard-to-source denim and jeans-related hardware. It's great to see someone who isn't afraid to jump in and figure something out for himself.
8. See Jason Sew - I only wish we could see Jason sew more often - he doesn't update often, but when he does it's worth it.
9. Rory Duffy Handcraft Tailor - It's no longer amateur hour, folks. Rory is a Savile Row-trained tailor, and is gracious enough to let us look at photos of his work and process.
10. Davide Taub - Another professional, Davide works in Savile Row. His cutting style is non-traditional to say the least, but it pays homage to the past, and you can see the early 19th century in many of his pieces. I also love the secret embellishments he puts under the lapels of many of his jackets and coats.

Other great costuming blogs, even if they aren't about men's clothing. :)

11. Diary of a Mantua Maker - All of ColeV's clothing is amazing, but look at that steampunk outfit! Just look at it!
12. At the Sign of the Golden Scissors - Hallie Larkin knows what she's talking about when it comes to 18th century clothing. It's a little before my preferred time, but I keep going back to learn more.
13. Before the Automobile - I'm just in awe here. Augustintytär doesn't just make beautiful clothing and then take a couple pictures of it - you get to scroll through pages and pages of photos with the Finnish countryside as the backdrop.
14. The Fashionable Past - With all the great sites on costuming for women in the 19th century out there, this is one I keep coming back to. This recent robe a l'anglaise series is one of my favourites.
15. 19th Century Costuming - or HistoricalSewing.com - I'm not sure which title Jennifer Rosbrugh likes to use. Whichever one it is, this blog is packed full of tips and information, as well as photos of her clothing.

That took a long time to write up! Think of all the tailoring I could be getting done!

Frock Coat 4: Finished

Finally, I'm posting about the finished frock coat! I actually finished a while ago, but what with other projects I'm working on (non-Victorian clothing) I haven't gotten around to posting these or putting on the finished frock coat for a photograph.

Here I'm sewing the collar front to the collar back (the back has all the basting showing below. The stitch pulls the edges together into one piece, as you can see. The front slightly overlaps the back, which the stitch then sort of wraps down to join. Does that make sense?

The finished collar, and revers. The draft I used had a dart to shape the revers, which I'm not entirely sure about, but you can see it where it meets the collar below.

The sleeve joining the body at the shoulder. There are no shoulder pads in this coat, but there are sleeve heads. I think this is a nice smooth join, without too much fuss. It was a lot of fuss to make it work.

The waist buttonhole is worked into the seam between the body and the skirt. There are bar tacks (which you can't see, apparently) strengthening the ends of the buttonhole.

Finishing a buttonhole. You can see the length of four-cord I made of twisted buttonhole silk. Just four strands of thread twisted until they twist themselves into a rope.

The finished buttonhole.

I've basted the buttonhole closed to work on the next one. I'll leave this basting in place until I've pressed the fronts one last time.

All dressed up. You've seen me make this shirt, trousers, waistcoat, and frock coat.

The trousers need a serious pressing. Oops.

 I'm not sure what's going on with the shirt collar here. The frock coat looks a little bunchy too, but that's because it isn't buttoned up. When it's buttoned it's a perfect fit - a true body coat.

Frock Coat 3: Sleeves

I want to mention first of all that I suddenly realised that I've been doing it all wrong! Well, not that bad, but when I got to the part of The Victorian Tailor that talked about the sleeves and collar, it mentioned something about now sewing the backs together. All this time I should have had the coat in two halves, unconnected. That certainly would have made sewing in the lining easier around the tails and inside. Ah well, I don't think it will be too bad.

Anyway, I also noticed that I don't have any photos of the finished sleeve, but I'll save the "big reveal" for my next post.

These sleeves will have a "false cuff." Basically this is instead of having a longer sleeve that turns up - instead it has an additional cuff added to the bottom. You'll see this style a lot on military coats, where the false cuff is a different colour, and has rank bars or decorative braid on it. In this case it will be plain, and I don't think I'm going to add buttons (not because I'm lazy, but because this is more of a casual frock coat - if such a thing exists - and I think a plain sleeve will be better).

The first step - sewing up the short sides of the sleeves. The part marked out in chalk at the bottom is just an insert which will extend into the false cuff:

Next I added the false cuff. I think I should have used a pressing cloth when I pressed it, as the fabric discoloured a little bit, but when I've finished the coat I'll see if I can steam that back to normal. Anyway, you can see that there is no seam along the front side of the cuff, and it will just have one in the back.

Then I added some bias interlining to keep the cuff in shape. This is pad stitched along the side seams, and following the fold line chalked in. At the top it's cross stitched to the inlay of the sleeve.

The cuff is hemmed up at the fold line (a healthy 2" in this case) and is cross stitched to the interlining.

Here's what it looks like now from the right side.

I seamed along the long sides, clipped it at the cuff line, and pressed it open. At the cuff I pressed it to the side so it will look as if it will open. This is not a functioning ("surgeon's") cuff, so don't need to worry about anything but cross stitching the seam in place.

Here's what the opening looks like now. I've felled the seam allowance to the cuff on the top side so it looks like one piece.

I sewed together the sleeve lining. This is the only part of the coat where I've used a sewing machine. With both the sleeve and lining inside out, I matched the sides together and basted the seam allowances together. This will keep the lining from twisting inside the sleeve.

Then the sleeve and lining are turned right side out. Just reach through, grab both ends together, and pull. Note that the lining extends a little bit out of the cuff. It needs this extra length to sew properly.

I hope this picture makes sense. The sleeve is right side out, but I've turned the cuff inside out to sew the lining down. The lining is folded back under itself to about 1" from the end of the cuff, then basted in place. Then I turned down the lining along the basting line (this is why you need the extra fabric, because you're actually sewing fairly far back along the cuff), and felled in place. This will then fold back down, so the lining has a little bit of give at the end of the cuff.

This is what I'm talking about. The lining folds back at the end of the cuff and is sewn down underneath.

Now the sleeve is ready to be attached to the body. This is fiddly, and involves easing the sleeve head so it isn't too poofy, and doesn't have pleats. I didn't take any pictures, because I was futzing around with pins and basting thread, trying to get it right. Here's a picture, after the sleeve is sewn into the armscye, of the sleeve head. It's sewn into the seam allowance, facing down the sleeve (which is inside out at the moment). I made this sleeve head by folding a piece of handkerchief-weight linen around a sheet of linen pile. You know where I got the linen pile? From my dryer's lint trap after pre-washing a couple yards of white linen. I carefully peeled it off the trap, and kept it as a sheet. Now I have linen padding! The sleeve head will keep the roll of the sleeve smooth as it transitions from shoulder down to sleeve.

That's all for now - I'm getting close to finishing!

Frock Coat 2: The Guts

 When I last left you, I had finished the collar of the frock coat. I won't come back to the collar for a long time, so I really did it out of order, but that's all right. The next thing I did was baste the finished canvas to the coat fronts, and pad stitch the revers (also known as the lapel).

Here you can see (and you can click for larger images)  the pad stitching which lends the revers its shape. I haven't ironed it, but it maintains a fairly sharp crease, and also curls back toward the point of the revers. Underneath you can see the dart that gives the chest some shape, and a few dimples where the pad stitching is.

Underneath the armscye I've added a little padding. This is batting covered by thin linen which I've pad stitched to the fabric. This will fill out the little hollow under the arm.

 A final picture of the completed interior of the front of the coat.

Now I've attached the back and skirts, and added a strip of linen at the bottom hem to help keep the coat draping properly.

In addition to the linen strip, I've also added a few lead weights. This is a very soft linen coat fabric, and the weights will help it hang properly.

I've begun turning in the fronts in anticipation of adding the facings. You can see here an additional piece of linen added to help support the buttons along the front edge.

Now to add some pockets. There are no side or front pockets on this coat, to maintain the proper form, but instead it has two pockets hidden in the tails. I've cut the lining for the tails in two pieces, and made pocket shapes.

In retrospect, I should have cut the pockets to be shaped within the red dotted lines - this would have helped them hang straight, since they would have been supported by the waist seam.

The finished pocket. It may be hard to see, but I've added reinforcement at the corners of the pocket opening so it doesn't rip open.

A closer look at the pocket.

Completed skirt lining. On this side the pocket is at the top left of the lining, by the top of the back vent opening.

Frock Coat 1: Drafting and Canvas

Sorry I haven't posted very much recently. I haven't been idle, but I was working on a few Christmas gifts (including a kilt for my two year-old nephew) that didn't pertain to this blog.

Anyway, next on the lineup is a frock coat. Once again, I drafted my own pattern, based this time on a combination of drafts from R.I. Davis' Men's Garments, 1830-1900.The collar is my own design, so we'll see how it works out. I just haven't been able to successfully draft a collar based on any system I've seen yet, but the second version I made for my muslin version of the coat seemed to work out well.

The first step for the frock coat (now basically following Maclochlainn's hasty jacket directions at the end of his book) is to prepare the canvas. This is especially important for me, since I'm not making my frock coat from heavy wool, but from a very nice herringbone linen I found. It is very soft and drapey, and I need to make sure that it's well-supported. There are a series of diagrams and pictures in both Davies and Maclochlainn that describe the setup of coat canvasing, but I mainly used this diagram from Davies:

As you can see, there are three pieces - the main canvas, and then two additional pieces which reinforce the shoulder and chest. I cut the main pieces and one of the additional pieces on the straight grain, and the second shoulder canvas on the bias. Here are the main pieces and the collar canvas pieces.

I could just go from there, but the next step is to shape the canvas so that it is more three-dimensional, and not just a flat piece. In order to do that, I took the dart out of the neck gore/lapel that you can see drawn in above, and then opened up several V's (what's the opposite of a dart? That's what these are) as you can see below, and inserted fabric to keep them open. As you can see, the lines start to flow and the canvas no longer lies flat on the table.

Now, after I've added the two shoulder/chest pieces (which have similar V's inserted into them) I pad stitched them all together. The vertical white lines are chalk lines to keep it all neat, and the chevrons are the pad stitching.

Next, I laid out my pattern pieces on the fabric. You can't see it in this photo, but the next couple will show off the true pattern and colour of the linen.

I've seen many different methods of pad stitching or otherwise attaching the canvas to the undercollar. I went with Maclochlainn on this one, which has you pad stitch the collar part, and side stitch the stand. You can't really see the side stitching in this photo because the stitches are small, but it does add body to the stand. Here I haven't ironed the fall line yet - just pressed it with my fingers - but it gives a good idea of how the collar will fall.

This was a lucky break - I didn't even plan it because I completely forgot to think about it, but the herringbones lined up perfectly where the undercollar seam is, to form a chevron. Actually, now that I look at it again you can see that the grains are reversed. Ah well, you'll never see this part of the collar anyway. Even though you can't see any of the thread from the pad stitching.