My First Attempt: Draping

 Draping a Civil War Sack Coat 

My first attempt at draping came early this year, when my brother was cast in a play at school and needed a costume. That play was Little Women. 

The drama teacher had decided that students were responsible for finding their own costumes. As you can imagine, the majority of those students went straight to Etsy, eBay, or wherever else you find cheap Civil War-esque clothing. That was what we probably should have done. It is not what we did.

Instead, I tasked myself with creating a historically accurate Civil War costume unique to the demographic of the Little Women characters. Note to self: never spend over $100 on your brother's costume in the name of historical accuracy. 

I started by scouring the internet for an accurate pattern. To my utmost surprise, I did not find one in my brother's size. I thought briefly about sizing an adult pattern down but discarded the idea when a little (evil) voice in my head said I should just scratch the idea and make it from scratch. I listened.

Next, came research. If one wishes to construct a historically accurate boy's ensemble from the general time period Little Women is set in, one must pay attention to contextual clues to decide when this is. For me, it was the fact that Joe constantly complains about being a girl, because she is not allowed a place in the army. This, and the dramatic wounding of Mr. March on the front lines of the fight for the Union that ends in a fashionable bob and tears over Joe's "one beauty". It was clear that if Little Women took place at some point during the Civil War, the clothing period I was looking at was around 1860. 

From there, I took the most reasonable course of action and visited Pinterest, as any sane person does in a time of need. A quick search for "Civil War boy's clothing" brought up pictures like this: 

Colombus Depot Jacket at Texas Civil War Museum, picture taken by Phil Graf 

And: 

Civil War Cadet and Three Brothers, photograph taken by Alexander Hesler 

The primary piece in the Civil War boy's ensemble seemed to be a jacket, boxy and untailored, sometimes buttoned up to the neck, and sometimes open to reveal a simple white cotton shirt. Some research revealed this jacket is called a "sack coat", commonly issued by the military to its troops on account of its being easy to make and mass produce. It seemed easy enough to make. That is where, however, like some overconfident remodeler on HGTV, I encountered a problem that was definitely unforeseen. If I was going to attempt the sack coat without a pattern, how was I going to identify and reproduce the seam lines unique to the 1860s? 

Now, would this have been a problem if perfectionism is not also a problem of mine? No. Was I determined to solve it, nonetheless? Yes. Some additional research turned up the Most Helpful PDF ever, that I recommend giving a read even if you aren't attempting a historically accurate Little Women costume for your little brother who doesn't even have a main part in the play and so won't actually be seen that much but you're crazy so you're doing it anyway. 

In the PDF, the author, Paul McKee, provides extremely helpful information on not only what the sack coat and its purpose were, but also diagrams that showcase the seamlines unique to this garment. Here is one such diagram: 

Diagram provided by Paul McKee in his PDF entitled Notes on the Federal Issue Sack Coat 

As you can see, the shoulder seams are set much farther into the back of the jacket than they would be in a modern garment. That is what would have been hard to reproduce had I not had this diagram for reference. 

Armed with this new reference, I collected some scrap fabric and began my first attempt at draping. The first thing I did was pin this fabric to my brother, who insisted on arranging the pins in my pincushion into smiley-faces when I wasn't looking. Disclaimer: no brothers were harmed in the making of this jacket. 

Secondly, I traced the pieces I would need for the project against his measurements, making sure to allow for wiggle room, as the jacket is not tailored. Taking the pieces off my brother, I then added seam allowance and converted them to a paper pattern. After polishing some lines and various details, I cut the pattern out of more scrap fabric and sewed it together, making my first mock-up. A note: the first two to three mock-ups did not include the collar, which I made later. Adjusting and fitting as I went, I modified the pattern pieces until they fit well and resembled the diagram. 

One of the mock-ups I made minus collar and buttons 

For the last mock-up, I designed the collar by cutting a long strip of fabric, which I folded in half. Rounding the top left and right corners, I tried my best to recreate the collars seen in both extant garments and photographs. Here is a close-up of one of these collars: 

Jacket held in collection by the Tennessee State Museum, confederate jacket worn by Private Edward Oldham from Lauderdale County 

Once I was satisfied by the resulting jacket, I cut the revised pattern pieces out of some brown wool flannel I purchased on Etsy. I chose the color brown because it seemed best for a civilian costume, considering it was neither a Union nor confederate color. I sewed them together, attached a white cotton lining, and added metal buttons I purchased at Hobby Lobby. 

The finished product looked like this: 

I also made a pair of cotton pants from an 1860s boy's trousers pattern to pair with the jacket 

The one thing I wish I'd done differently is lengthen the collar on both ends. While extant garments do feature a substantial gap between the end of the collar and the button placket, I feel mine could have been smaller. Other than that, I think it turned out fairly well for my first attempt at draping!! I can safely say my brother wore the most historically (albeit needlessly) accurate costume on stage!