Linen Tailcoat, c. 1815

After looking at Sam at Jane Austen Festival and realizing that he was wearing every article of Regency clothing he had, I jumped into a frenzy of sewing for him that hasn't quite stopped.  Number one on the list was a new linen coat for him.  He is now a costumed interpreter at Historic Locust Grove and their period of interpretation is 1816, so he needed a new coat since his late-1790's secondhand coat would not work.  We decided to base it off of this original in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is dated 1815.

We found the perfect fabric at Regency Revisited, which you might recognize from Sam's Civil War-era waistcoat that I made last year.  Thankfully, Walt and Jan still had it in stock and we could get some for this coat!  

We began by mocking up the pattern.  We used Laughing Moon #122 with some alterations to the collar and lapel.

It got off to a rocky start - right off the bat I had to piece the collar because we forgot to cut 4 pieces and only cut two.

Only to find this giant chunk of fabric left over from the waistcoat after all of the piecing!

Next up came padstitching the collar - gotta love it when it stands up by itself!

I'm so happy with my topstitching on the collar and lapel - look how neat it is!

In true Deviant Dressmaker fashion, this was finished the morning of the event. We were hemming and sewing buttons on the coat until the opening of 200 Years on the Ohio!  Oh well, it is finished, and looks amazing.  And a sewing machine never touched it!  Sam has worn it for multiple events since then and it's holding up very well.  I can't say the same of his breeches, but that's a story for another day!

Check him out :)

200 Years on the Ohio - photo by Past Impressions Photography

200 Years on the Ohio - Photo by J. Meyer

During one of my cooking demonstrations at the antiques fair at Locust Grove - Photo by Story Moon Photography

The Locust Grove costumed interpreters perform at the Annual Meeting - Photo by Story Moon Photography