I made new clothes for N.
After last year's succes with the early 17th century... and under "success" I meant that he wore the stuff, he did not feel "strange" or off in them, he did not "stick out like a sore thumb" from the rest of us... Anyhow, after that success, I went a step further. We were supposed to have at least two event in the Napoleonic era, and two in the late 18th century, and I wanted to include him in those I did some careful considerations and decided to make him a set.
What I had to consider, when choosing the pieces?
One that in reenactment you "can" dress in clothes from a somewhat earlier period, but not later. Meaning that, like in 1860, you could still wear 1840-ies stuff and be old fashioned, but not 1870-ies stuff.
In all his life N. only wore jeans and T shirts. In our five years together I only saw him in a suit twice (at a wedding and at a funeral, and I made him change back to his jeans and shirt at the wedding after the service at the wedding). Also his figure is not average. I mean, he is the sweetest man on earth, but fitting him is a nightmare. At the moment it is important for him, that his clothes cover his belly. So the much shorter regency waistcoats and tailcoats -for the moment- they are out.
Also I have to consider that he is running around with a modern camera and a gigantic objective, so full-out historical accuracy is out of the window to beginn with. On the other hand, I want him WITH us, with our group, I want to walk around with him and look okay.
So putting all that into a pot and cook up something is no easy feat. I wanted to put him something that is nonedescript, general, comfortable enough for him, but still have the late 18th century wibe. (and it has pockets. It must have pockets.)
So I've decided on the breeches and waistcoat from about 1770-1780, with the intention of adding a coat later on.
My inspirations were pictures like these:
Now, while I like to think myself as a fairly adequate dressmaker, seamstress, I must admit, I am mediocre at fittings and by no means a tailor, much less a man's tailor. I do know how to draw up patterns, I even know some about how to modify them, but I really do not like to do them, I try to avoid that step if I can, so whenever it is possible I use already existing patterns and modify them, when / where needed.
I choose the Blacksnails pattern for the breeches, and the JP Ryan for the waistcoat.
In the second half of the 18th century, men's waistcoats got shorter, therefore first only part, then more and more of the crotches of their pants were exposed, however they thought it is indecent to show the front opening, thus they used a flap construction that is a bit strange to the modern eyes. Discussing the question with N. we decided on the Blacksnail's pattern (0719) - from here I will refer to it as the BS pattern-, because its flap is wide, goes across the full belly, thus seems to hold it more, N. liked it better.
First I needed to modify the pattern pieces, because even the biggest sizes were pretty far away from N's measurements. It was easier to enlarge the BS pattern, because it came in many sizes, and I only needed to put a line to the key points and go out from there.
For the waistcoat pattern I needed to add a considerable curve to the front edge to accomondate N.'s belly. Of course I made mock ups, and I took apart the breeches so many times I lost count. The waistcoat was somewhat easier (or I managed to get grips how to modify that pattern better).
Unfortunately, we were getting alarmingly close to the time we needed to leave for the Netherlands, for the Bourtnage events, so I don't really have pictures of the process, only of a few details.
This is more like a useable trial piece (if it fits, if he likes to use it, etc. I have plans to make something from better material), for late spring / summer events, so I used a nice herringbone linen I had in my stash.
Sewing is my usual combination of machine sewn seams, and hand finishing.
Of course, I've started with the P. logo. It is an ongoing joke between us, see my earlier posts about his clothes.
The small watchpocket in the waistband.
Even after making a mock-up and redoing it countless time, the waist / flap ended up being to big, later I took out the part that is pinched in the middle on the pic.
18th century breeches were pretty thight at the leg and the knees, added width at the butt allows enough room to sit down,crouch and such, hence the famous "diaper butt".
Eyelets and a tie allows adjustment at the back.
The tiny thread badat the bottom of the slit to stop it from breaking apart fully, if there is some undue stress.
The button holding up the flap.
Finishing the buttonband on the legs.
And the buttonholes
And the finished breeches...
For the waistcoat, there is also the starting point, the Logo.
For the outside I used the same herringbone linen, but for the waistcoat I also needed lining, and something to stiffen certain parts. There is a lucky story, as after one of my rounds in the store-chain, that sells factory rejects, leftovers and whatnot, N. asked me if I found something. "of there was some sandy-beige-y linen, but I did not buy it, as you know, I love white, and colorful linens, but wouldn't know what to do with that color..." and he looks at me, with his blue eyes wide open and sayin... "You act like you've never dyed a piece of fabric before..." and then the pin dropped, I got my phone right away, asking the girl in the shop to save it for me. When I got it home, I prewashed it, even ironed it, but then it was on the shelf for months and months... but now it was perfect... and I didn't even had to dye it. The other lucky find were, that another store of the same chain had a roll of horsehair canvas, which was great to stiffen the edges, and the pocked flaps. Yayy,
Unfortunately, there was a bit of paint and a tear (for the price I paid for the linen it was nothing), I only saw after cutting out the back, but hey, as we say, piecing is period, so I did not recut the whole back, only the damaged part, so there is an extra seam inside.
Now, looking at the pictures on my phone I see that there are even less of them from making the waistcoat than of the breeches, none of the pockets, (even though there are pockets not only at the breeches, but at the waistcoat too, only the handsewn stitches I used putting in the linen lining.
And the one, showing, how I cheated with the buttonholes. I do not have anything against handsewing buttonholes, even though I am far from being really good at them. One of my problems is, that wherever buttonholes are put, there are usually many layer of fabrics. The outer one, the lining, some stiffening layer, and for me , it is so hard to hold the needle in a way so it would catch all the layers. I am always afraid that I miss the bottom fabric, and it would fray, keep turning the fabric, to look under it, which takes time, and it stresses the fabric. and makes my stitches even more uneven...
So I thought what if I make the buttonholes with the machine, that would hold all the layers together, and act as a guide, and then go over thode stitches by hand.
Yayy, it worked. Next time I wil probably lay 2 or 3 strand of thread over the machine stitches, before I sew them over, but hey. Good enough.
And finally, the finished breeches and the waistcoat photographed in Bourtange:
P.s.: the tricorn umm, cocked hat: a cheap hat off the internet, soaked in warm water, and sprayed with starch. I pinned the edges up and let it dry throughly. I sewed on the ribbon, a few stitches fixed the sides, and then made a small cockade from the leftover pieces of ribbon
