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A Ditto Suit: Frock Coat

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I decided fairly quickly that in making my suit, I preferred the look of the coats with stand-and-fall collars. As historically there were a few neckline options, from no collar whatsoever on up, I went with my aesthetic preference for the frock coat style. I was pretty intimidated by this as I looked through the resources I have. I have made a 1940s women's suit using tailoring techniques, but that is the limit of my suiting experience. To take that limited knowledge and use it to draft, fit, and assemble an 18th century suit coat from a gridded image felt overwhelming, even with the 18th century sewing experience I had under my belt already.  Doing some research in a couple of excellent historical costuming groups on Facebook, I found one name popped up again and again as the frock coat expert: Henry Cooke. Lucky for me, he doesn't only offer classes, but also a pattern, available at The Sign of the Unicorn: Wm. Booth, Draper. A part of me felt like a cheat for purchasing a p...
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A Ditto Suit: Waistcoat

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Because I knew it would be the simplest piece of this project to begin with, I drafted the waistcoat first. Using the example found in Fitting and Proper, I traced out the waistcoat and began fitting. As a quick caveat: as I patterned out my pieces and assembled muslins, I did use my sewing machine for assembly of them. I'm ambitious, not a maniac. I started with the original dimensions, as they were quite close to mine in the first place, and what I got looked like this:  Not too bad for a first draft.     I found the first fitting to be fairly accurate. The main issues were at the neckline (too high in front) and the armscye (far too close from underarm to shoulder in the front, possibly too open at the back). There was a minor fit issue around the waist at the back as well, one of those half-cosmetic, half-actual-fit types. I was able to make the adjustments I wanted to by simply cutting down the pieces I was already using. The back armhole still needed increased in ...
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A Ditto Suit: Breeches

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Breeches are what brought us here to this project. Well, breeches and my ardent optimism/perennial stupidity that has made my creative motto forever be "How hard can it be?" Hard. Very hard.  As an upfront note, I use this space almost as a journal, updating photos and writing as I go, then publishing it when I finish. Because of this, there are things I do that I discover need to be changed as the construction process progresses. This is not a perfect tutorial by any means: it's far more like a legible version of the pencil notes you find scribbled along the margins of a pattern's instructions. Read on at your own risk. After feeling confident about my waistcoat, I put aside those pieces and I opened Costume Close-Up . I preferred the breeches pattern in this book slightly over that of the pattern in Fitting & Proper , primarily as it looked like the sizing would be closer to my own. I ended up with an abomination of a first round of patterning. I haven't in...
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The Felicity Ensemble at Williamsburg; or, All My Childhood Dreams Come True

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My husband is an excellent gift giver, and this year he really outdid himself: we went to Colonial Williamsburg for the Grand Illumination. And of course, I brought the Felicity caraco and petticoat. I finished my new, more formal cap in the car on the way down, because of course I did! I used the "Elise" pattern from Virgil's Fine Goods and the finest linen I've ever handled from Penny River Costumes. While you can't see the ribbon in most of the photos, it is of course the same burgundy shade as Felicity's cap ribbon, matching the breast knot on my jacket. I got both widths of silk ribbon at Needle & Thread. I had hoped to get out and about before people were arriving on Sunday because I feel like I'm butting in on the official museum interpreters to be seen in costume by the public. I don't know if it happens to be a legitimate worry or not, but it is still a concern for me personally. However, we had a nice lazy morning and didn't arrive to...
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