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Michilimackinac was a French-built fortified trading post. Most of the civilian population was French, mostly made up of fur traders and their families. An outfit like this would be fairly typical for a man of some status in the 1770s.
Of all the ensembles in this collection, the man's oufit is the most complicated. It has far more pieces than any of the others and the construction is unlike anything else I've ever made. John wears a shirt and breeches (culottes) under a velvet waistcoat (weskit or veste) and wool coat (justacorps.) Knee-high stockings, buckle shoes, fingerwoven sock garters, and a tricorn hat complete the look. The shirt is the same heavy linen as the Metis woman's chemise. The construction is like that of the shirts from Jas. Townsend and Son, pulled from costume stock at the fort. Also, on page 47 of Fitting and Proper by Sharon Ann Burnston, ther is a man's shirt dated to c. 1790-1810. The only difference between the later shirt and earlier examples, says Burnston, is the shape of the collar. By cutting the collar in a simple rectangle, the date of the shirt is brought back to the target era--the 1770s. The waistcoat is burgundy cotton velvet from Fabric.com, lined with unbleached muslin. Purchased several years ago, the velvet was basically free and the front of the garment was cut from considerably less than a yard. There are examples of suits and waistcoats of velvet in Linda Baumgarten's What Clothes Reveal. The pockets are functional, as are the pockets of the coat. The coat is moss-green wool lined with a lightweight tan linen. Once black, the linen was treated multiple times with RIT Color Remover to lighten it to its present shade. It was purchased at deep discount from Hobby Lobby, while the wool was bought, also discounted, from Field's Fabrics. The bolt simply said "wool/blend," and a burn test revealed that it was mostly wool with just a little synthetic mixed in--the most likely candidate is nylon. Corduroy for the breeches also came from Field's. Although modern corduroy is, as far as I can tell, not documentable for the period, at least two pairs of breechees used by the parks are corduroy and the wale on this particular fabric is quite fine. From a distance, it reads as a solid, similar in texture to the velvet of the waistcoat. Also, it was a whopping one dollar per yard. Working on a budget, that price can hardly be turned down! |
In the 1770's, the cut of men's coats moved from a fully-covered style to more of a cutaway line. The multiple buttons down the front aren't meant to close; instead, three hooks and eyes hold the front in place over the chest and allow the front to fall away in a swooping line toward the back. This coat is made from J.P. Ryan's Frock Coat pattern in size 40. It's a very snug size 40, and everyone who tried it on other than this particular young man above complained of tightness in the armscye. Were I to make this style of coat again, I would start with a larger size, no matter what the measurements said, and alter it to fit that way. As it was, I had exactly enough of the green wool to make a size 40--no more. Some of the lining pieces for the cuffs and pocket flaps had to be cut off-grain because there was literally just enough fabric to eke them out.
The linen lining is larger than the wool outer layer. It stretched in hanging so that the two layers no longer fit nicely together. That was my mistake and it caused considerably more work in order to fix it. Neither fabric has the stiffness needed to create a smooth line in the front--the pieces curve away from each other and although the pattern says that interfacing there is "optional," it really needs to be there in order for the coat to hang correctly. Of course, I didn't figure that out until I had already constructed the coat and it was within two or three steps of being finished. It was just bad enough of a problem that I couldn't live with it, so I unpicked the edgestitching in the front, turned the whole thing inside out again, installed the interfacing, re-turned the garment, re-edgestitched, and was much happier with the silhouette afterwards. However, because the linen stretched, it creased a little against the interfacing in a couple places because it refuses to lie perfectly smooth against the wool. None of that shows from the outside, though, and the hang of the garment is much better for having the interfacing.
The buttons--of which there are 26--are pewter reproductions from Jas. Townsend & Son. None of those are functional; there is not a single working button or buttonhole on the entire garment.
Waistcoats shortened in the 1770's from mid-thigh to just below the fastening of the breeches. J.P. Ryan's pattern, used here in its shorter incarnation, offers the appropriate period shape and length. The velvet is difficult to photograph; the picture below is a better representation of the color.
The shirt is quite large and constructed simply of rectangles. It has three carved wooden buttons--one at each wrist and one at the throat. The pattern for the breeches was given to me by a fellow interpreter. Several brown paper grocery sacks gave their lives in the making of that pattern; it came with no directions and, I'm convinced, not all the pieces. However, a day's worth of puzzling, staring at J.P. Ryan's pattern (which I had attempted and discarded), and a couple confused phone calls yielded a workable pair of breeches. There are thirteen buttons on the breeches, all reproduction pewter from Jas. Townsend & Son.
