The Plan

I was pretty tentative about the whole project since I had never made anything 18c, nor had I made a truly tailored coat for a man before that was not Elizabethan. So I kept the project secret in case it completely failed (which it almost did) and went to work.

Besides the beautiful suits Bjarne makes, and the wonderful reproductions at Reine des Centfeuilles, my main inspiration was the court suit of Tzar Alexander 1 (1786) and this 1785 suit by Reine des Centfeuilles, which is a repro of a 1785 suit from the V&A. I liked the appliquéd contrasting trim on the edge since I was not going to have time to actually embroider my suit myself.

My inspiration fabric was a vintage sari from India . I had been looking for saris suitable as Elizabethan foreparts and came across this lovely baby blue one and thought, “There’s my suit.” The original plan was to make the whole suit from it; the fancy pallau would be the vest and the rest of the trim would be laid out along the edges. It was a pipe dream.

First, when it arrived I discovered that it was a slightly sheer synthetic crepe that was darker blue than pictured. The gold embroidery was scrumy so I still wanted to use it but I was hoping to find a baby blue or white silk satin for the main fabric and keep the sari for the vest. Off to the garment district I went, and I found a shot silk taffeta in blue & gold that was perfect! I flat-lined the whole shebang with plain cotton to get the silk enough weight to drape properly, and to make sure my suit didn’t fall apart after the first wearing.

Now it was time to draft the pattern, and my hell began afresh.

I started with the 1775 suit in Nora Waugh’s Cut of Men’s Clothes. and the vest from a year earlier. I knew this would be a challenge to try and make these shapes fit a girl but I was determined to have my fancy suit. I also found A. Bender’s (La Couturière Parisienne) men’s clothing How-To articles a great help in answering questions of construction, even if the suit she was making was a bit earlier than mine. Her image galleries were also very useful; I can’t thank her enough!

I started by scaling up the Waugh diagrams and tried draping them on myself and/or my dress dummy with mixes success.

The Breeches

These actually came out very well, other than my inability to believe my thighs were as big as they were, necessitating a new back to make the legs larger. The lower part of the breeches are supposed to be quite snug and all ease for sitting is contained in the oh-so-attractive diaper butt. I found that highly amusing but it worked like a charm. The drop front was not too hard to put together once I thought about it long enough and was very careful with my construction the first time. I did notice that the front of the pants really only fit perfectly if I used *ahem* strategically-placed stuffing. It was amusing but a little much. In the finished version the roominess is less pronounced.

I did not have enough time to get the buttonholes made so the knees are closed by hook & eye with the buttons over. I originally wanted to but trim around the knew like Tzar Alexander’s suit, but I remembered a holiday outfit I had once with small palettes on knickers and they shredder the fabric on the opposite leg, so I opted out of that decoration. I liked the sparkly buttons on the knee and I think it was enough.

Baby got back!

The Vest

Oh, the Vest. I started by trying to drape the scaled up vast onto myself but I am just too different a shape. I tried squishing myself to eliminate as many curves as possible, which wasn’t too successful. After all the pinching and pinning I scrapped it and started to just drape a new one. I added darts on the side bust and just cut the bottom of it in the correct period shape to give the right look.

Once I had my pattern down I tried to lay it out on the sari fabric. Well… the sari is hand embroidered, and rather sloppy, if you ask me! No matter where along the more than 12 feet of available trim I placed the pattern, I could not get two strips that matched up evenly. So much for that. I was on the verge of giving it up entirely when my wonderful hubby just said, “Sounds like you need to get you’re a** to the fabric store and find something that will work.” I love him.

The next day I bombed downtown at lunch and found a baby blue silk taffeta with floral embroidery on it. It changed the character of the suit considerably but now I would put the sparkly sari edge on the coat and make the vest from this. The floral was not mirrored so I offset it by over 6 inches so it wouldn’t look so obviously machine-done (I hate that look, when two sides match perfectly but face the same way, not mirrored) and the vest went together well in that. The back was made from some heavy silk noil scraps I had leftover from my Spanish farthingale. No one would see it anyway.

When I was downtown I also found some lace that would work for the collar frill and cuffs.

The Coat

The coat was initially easer than the vest to get started but it did it’s best to send me to the asylum towards the end. From the scaled up Waugh pattern I was able to drape a good enough toile to get started. I cut it in the blue shot silk, flat-lined with a medium weight cotton twill, a strip of really thick linen along the front edge, and lined in ivory silk dupioni from the stash. I was really liking the way this was coming out. I pressed the bejeesus out of each piece and each seam as I put it together. I pressed the back vent pleats before sewing the panels together. It all draped beautifully.

I worked out a way of constructing the sleeves that kept me from having to as a separate cuff. All layers went together, and the cuff folds back to show the sparkly sari fabric. My first idea was to put the straight edge of the sari trim along the front edge of the coat, then hand turn under all the edges along the shaped repeat, but I ran out of time so I just flipped it and hand stitched the straight edge. It’s ok, but not exactly what I wanted.

All hell broke lose when I attached the sleeves. This is a snug coat. Very snug across the shoulders, but it’s supposed to be so I was ok with it. When I added the sleeves it took it in just barely enough that I couldn’t wear it. I was heartbroken, pitched a complete tantrum, threw it in the corner and was going to light it on fire. It was so beautiful; it was perfect, for someone smaller than me. *shakes fist at sky*

After several hours of tantrum, I checked my stash and found that I did not have enough blue shot silk to make new back pieces entirely, because of the direction I had cut it in. If I rotated it 90 degrees I would have, but you all know how crappy that would have looked. LOL! So, I figured that I could make two new back panels from the hips up, and place two little joins in them instead of having the solid sweep from shoulder to knees. I had yardage of light yellow silk taffeta and I contemplated starting over – I still think I could have done it, but I forged ahead with the blue.

It worked, sort of. Each tweak caused two new problems, but I needed to get it done. I was never able to press the new seams to my satisfaction but it was ok. And making the wider back panels also made the neck wider and that was not fixable without remaking the front pieces, which wasn’t possible. So, I attached the collar and let it be.

The last minute addition were the pocket flaps in sari fabric, but I didn’t have time to make the actual pockets.

Finishing Touches & Accessories

A suit like this needs buttons, and lots of ‘em. One of the places downtown will make buttons from whatever fabric you bring in – those awful aluminum covered buttons, but still. So I brought baby blue taffeta for vest buttons and sari fabric with little sparkly flowers for the jacket. Again, I had no time to make buttonholes so everything I closed with hooks & eyes and the buttons are sewn on the outside. I think they looked perfect.

I put baby blue buttons on the vest, larger sari buttons on the coat, and smaller sari buttons on the trousers and shoes.

With this I needed a shirt, lacy collar & cuffs, white socks/tights, and shoes. Holy crap! Where am I going to get shoes???

I’ve had this weird pair of navy blue ribbed silk slip-ons by Nine West in my closet since the early 90’s. The heel wasn’t right but they worked in a pinch. I cut some strips of the suit silk, made them into cockades and put a sparkly button at the center of each one. They’re just safety pinned on.

I had a period style cotton shirt in my stash but the sleeves were tight on the coat and I wanted to be comfortable so I cheated. I made a linen collar and attached the lacy-frilly-thingy to it and basted it to the neck of the vest. Then I made lace cuffs and pinned them into the coat cuffs. I was still pinning in the cuffs and the shoe bows when dinner was started at the gala so I’m glad I didn’t decide on the shirt route.

I had to get men’s white tights for my legs since women’s tights are too sheer and don’t cover my ankle tattoo.

Lastly, I bought a beautiful black silk ribbon in the dealer room at Costume College for my hair, and went to town on my makeup.

Things I’d do differently

When I have the time, I hope to make another of these when I can fix some of my errors. I’d start with a better fitting coat pattern that fixes the fit issues at the neck and find a more suitable trim. I’d probably also lessen the sweep of the front of the coat so the panels are wide enough for decent sized pocket flaps without looking crowded – oh, and I’d put in real pockets, too. I was carrying my pink purse around all night because it was the only one I brought with me. DOH!

I’d keep the breeches as is, and the vest I’d only shorten the front a wee bit to avoid some of the wrinkling. I’d like to make all the buttons on wooden blanks properly, and work real buttonholes. If I ever get this far I’d also like better shoes and a real wig with the little curls over the ears.

I have to say this was a blast to wear - even more fun than the Venetians – and I hope to wear it again. It’s quite freeing to be dressed as such a rogue, especially in the company of so many fine women in need of a companion.