Saturday, August 30, 2014

Riding Habit Construction

Unfortunately, I didn't take construction pictures of the entire process... I got too caught up in everything, and learning completely new ways of doing things! But here are a couple images of some of the early steps, and some pictures of it after it's done to highlight a few interesting things.

I must take a moment to acknowledge the incredible generosity of my husband and his master, Mark Hutter, for helping me with the construction of this. I feel blessed to have them in my life, as mentors and friends!

The very first thing I did was sew the center back seam of the jacket. This was done by putting all four layers together (2 wool and 2 silk lining) so that they could be sewn all at once. Make sure the two wools are right sides together, and the two silks are right sides together. 


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I sewed the seam in non-matching (totally period!) silk thread with a tiny, tidy backstitch. 
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Once it's sewn, you can unfold the layers like so, revealing a fully-encased seam.
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Ta-da! Make sure to press it so it's nice and neat. Pressing is your best friend when it comes to tailoring. That, and chalk.
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Another interesting (and very different from mantua-making!) aspect of tailoring is all of the interfacing! There's no pad stitching anywhere in this garment, just a heavy, coarse linen (I could/should have gone the extra step and put a couple layers of gum tragacanth on the linen to create buckram, but...).

The interfacing is tucked under the seam allowance of the front edges. Press, press, press!
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Then I basted down the front edge so everything would stay in place. The lining gets folded under to meet the edge, and then is felled down.
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On the outside of the jacket, the outer edge of the interfacing gets tacked into place with a very widely spaced backstitch. Yes, it shows, but it's helpful and period, and if done neatly, it looks quite nice!
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All of the body seams (side-backs, shoulders, armseyes) were sewn twice: once with a back stitch, and then again with a spaced back stitch on top. I pressed the seam allowance to one side, and then did a spaced back stitch along the seam.
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Eighteenth century stitching (in fact, stitching from ALL periods!) is NOT always pretty! Especially when it won't show. :) This is how the lining is attached to the back skirts. It is done from the outside with a spaced back stitch. The underside looks shoddy...
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...but the outside is very neat and tidy! But no one will see it unless they are scrutinizing your bum...
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The side-back seams of the lining are folded on top of the center back lining and felled down, just like on women's gowns. That was at least something I was familiar with!
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Buttonholes... Oh, buttonholes. I love doing them now! I never thought I'd say that. But they are quite satisfying to do, making the little knots. These buttonholes were done using a "proper" buttonhole stitch, not a blanket stitch. I totally did not know they were different things before doing this project... I'd never needed to do buttonholes before! Now I do thousands by hand for work...There's a good tutorial here on Youtube. I can't remember if he says it in the video or not, but WAX YOUR THREAD! You will thank yourself... And use silk buttonhole twist, too. Having the right materials makes a world of difference, and it makes things easier!
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I hope this has been useful! I don't usually do construction write-ups like this, but this was such a fun, different experience that I had to share. If y'all like this kind of thing, I'll try to do it more often. :) Cheers!

8 comments:

  1. Fascinating! And so relevant. A habit is next on my list. Lovely work. Especially the inside! I love seeing the funky stitches on the inside of original garments. It's so part of the era.

    Best,
    Caroline

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  2. I love seeing how garments are made, what stitches each person chooses to do, etc. I'd be happy to see more of these sorts of posts.

    Best,
    Quinn

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  3. Very interesting!
    I love doing buttonholes too, actually. It's so satisfying because you can do them in such a short time. Thank you for mentioning those tips! I have never used buttonhole twist thread and didn't know it was different than a blanket stitch! Looks like I need to watch that tutorial.

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  4. Thank you very much for sharing these interesting period techniques with us!!! It's very helpful :)

    Sabine

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  5. I really enjoy seeing these kinds of posts. It's great to see the final, finished garment of course. But I love seeing how things are put together and learning new "tricks of the trade." :)
    -Emily

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  6. Thanks so much for putting together this post! :-)

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  7. there are so many things i'd like to make and a riding habit would be awesome... I really like yours! Thanks for posting the construction... very helpful - oh I've still got a lot to learn! :)

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