Here is the collar halfway off the coat. The old center-back seam allowance is visible, and the collar lining is free to shorten the collar to match the coat seams. After the seams are pressed open, the collar lining pieces get trimmed and everything is overcast back in place. Over to the side seams. The […]
Read more "Adjustments"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 […]
Read more "Sleeves"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, […]
Read more "Pressing"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 […]
Read more "Fitting"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 […]
Read more "Cuffs"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 […]
Read more "Progress"So here is one back piece. Compare it to the right side of the diagram in the last post. M. de Garsault says the tops of the pleats need to be re-enforced first. I made mine out of scraps of brown hemp canvas. The coat back has two: the rectangle on the left keeps the […]
Read more "Step One"I find this diagram intriguing. All of these different types of interfacing were common in mid-18th century coats. According to M. de Garsault, the tail padding was out of fashion by the 1770’s. Equally interesting is the center back pleat–a big gash in the coat that somehow needs to be hidden after it is all […]
Read more "L’Art du Tailleur"