Tags
10th Massachusetts, 18th century clothes, Brigade of the American Revolution, common soldier, hunting frock, hunting shirt, overalls, Revolutionary War, uniforms
Hunting frock and overalls complete!
Oh, my goodness, it’s done! It’s done, and the photos have passed the master. Phew! Just one more to go, oh, my goodness, no.
The Young Mr was allowed to carry a musket in the Warren Memorial Day Parade. I do not love a parade, so I didn’t go. But he had no overalls of suitable fit and they were so nearly done, that I resolved to finish them, and finish them I did, in time for bed on Saturday, no less. It’s all thanks to BBC’s brutal but entrancing programming. My sewing better to blood curdling screams (also courtesy ITV), which seems awful but there it is…though the darkness of Mad Men has proven good for back stitching, decent button holes require murder.
Buttonholes. I hate those guys less now.
Fifteen button holes, multiple fittings, and some curse words have resulted in a pair of decent-fitting overalls that did not split at the knee or stretch too extremely when worn. And atop it all, in the yard if not in the parade, the new model hunting front adopted by the 10th Massachusetts. The Young Mr is uniform-forward as Neal Hurst’s research has led the adjutant to conclude that the men were wearing frocks, and not shirts. (In the Rhode Island records, I found that rifle frocks were listed until 1780/1781, when the Records of the State of Rhode Island began to indicate rifle or hunting “frocks or shirts.” That’s a wrinkle for Mr Hurst, but I saw only frock in 1777-1780.)
Lunatic fringe. Cut, fold, clip, strip, stitch.
The fringing is a task completed by Mr S, who has fringed the strips for his own Rhode Island hunting frock, and now knows what fun awaits him as another frock will made for him. My goal? Another complete 10th Massachusetts kit by June 15. I’ve sewn buttonholes in a moving car before, and I expect to be felling seams or sewing buttonholes as we travel down to New Jersey. They’ll be fine; after all, the traffic is murder.
Kitty Calash 
DOUBLE WOW! Fifteen buttonholes and you haven’t fled to the hinterlands? Impressive! Technically, how is the fringe accomplished–do you actually fringe the edges of the collar, etc., or is it applied? I am dumbstruck, either way… I know what you mean about sewing in a car on the NJ Tpk, although stop and start traffic is NOT my idea of a stable table. Best I could do was sew on buttons. Can’t imagine buttonHOLES.
Nancy N
Henry Cooke says the first thousand buttonholes are the hardest…and I’m up over 100 now, I think, with 15 on each of 3 pairs of breeches and 3 pairs of overalls. Then another 10 each on 3 waistcoats, 2 jackets, and 5 on a pair of trousers. So they’re getting easier, and a little faster.
The fringe is made from a 2 inch strip folded in half. Leaving 4 or 5 threads at the fold, clip every every couple of inches, and pull the lengthwise threads until you have a big pile of fluff and strips of fringed linen. Then I stitch it to the garment. It seems more stable, and allows fringing to happen while sewing is done, so a little speedier.