vintage shirt donation

I was walking by the office the other day and noticed a number of shirts, freshly laundered and just hanging on the back of the door.
It turns out that they were a donation.
These are old shirts.
I don't want to quite hazard a guess, without doing a bit of research, but I took some photos to show you. I want to say WWI era to 1920's but I am leaning towards earlier.
They are in very good to fair condition, the fabrics are still bright and crisp, and have been well taken care of.
They are French, as in from Paris, not Quebec.
The labels read David, 32 Ave de l'OPera, Paris. Each shirt has some kind of number hand embroidered in the side seam gusset, which I assume is for laundry services.
They are made with a combination of hand and machine stitching. The buttonholes are all hand made, the machine stitching is tiny tiny tiny- I bet more than 24 stitches per inch. I will have to get closer and count.
A variety of details:
Some of the shirts, such as this one, pull on over the head, some button up the front. One has a contrast bib front in a striped fabric. All have the small band collar made for wearing a detachable collar. This one has fullness gathered into the back yoke, and a small pieced section on the back of the sleeves. The cuffs are interfaced with something very stiff, I had to wet it and press with a hot iron to uncrumple them. I haven't taken any measurements but they are ample in the body, longer in the back and have small hand inserted gussets in the side seams. The seams in general are about .5mm wide, as is the hem.
The armholes are felled with quite a wide finish- 1.5cm or so by guessing.

Maybe someone out there has better sleuthing skills or more time to spend looking for information. I wonder when this business was  operating in this location?

More to come as I have them pressed up and measured.

vintage smoking jacket

Santo brought me this vintage smoking jacket as a reference for one of the costumes we will be making for his show. What exact vintage is it? I'd guess late 20's maybe thirties? I looked up the company and found out quite a bit about the history of garment manufacturing in Rochester that I was unaware of.

I love seeing the real garments. It is always interesting to see the silhouette, the materials used and the finishing details.

I love this double faced wool, dark charcoal on one side and lighter grey on the other. It allows for many design details and a simplicity of sorts. The cuffs are grown-on turn backs of the sleeves, providing a contrast of colour, as do the lapels and the pocket details.

The whole jacket is finished on the inside with bound seam allowances, along with a very short lining in the upper shoulder. The raw edges are bound off in a decorative binding and cording combination, the binding has been applied and the cord zigged to the folded edge of the binding.

That is, I assume the cording was added after the jacket edges were bound. Hmm...it seems likely.

Our version of it however, is not made of a double faced fabric, rather it is made of blue velveteen with a plum and blue patterned velveteen contrast. We will be finishing the edges in a similar manner, with a binding and a cord, so we will experiment soon on the trimming and finishing details. I'll make sure to take photos.

Extreme styles#2 Drape

These designs, available from Chicago Woolen Mills in their 1943 booklet should make you give your head a shake! There's a lot of online discussion about drape so this should add fuel to the fire.

Above you can see the basic drape model in full colour along with the description

NOTE: when ordering, observe that these DRAPE MODELS have extra wide shoulders, fullness across chests and in sleeve heads. They tailor best in the softer fabrics.

Not too extreme a look- broad shoulders, nipped in waist, strong and ready to take on the world kind of look.

Then we have these two pages of Extreme Drape Models for Young Men. Interestingly, they come with warnings that you may not order trousers wider than specified in the chart because of the War measures in effect, but wow, I guess the jackets were exempt- maybe they could lay them out with a narrower trouser and use the same amount of fabric as in a regular suit- I don't know.

Quite the silhouette though, don't you think?

I'm out of town for a week so I'll catch up with you later.

Extreme styles

I have been collecting reference materials for a number of years now and as I was organizing things the other day I stopped to leaf through some of these catalogues and books.

I try to photograph or photocopy the more fragile examples so I don't have to worry about them becoming more damaged and I thought I'd share some of the things here with you.

We often think of extreme fashions as being something limited to our own present time because we don't often see examples of earlier times.

I wonder what people thought of these possibilities that were available to order in this 1914 Bannerman Tailoring of Chicago catalogue.

Obviously someone used the book as ascrapbook and interestingly they seemed to paste over most of the really interesting fashion plates and left the basic looks untouched- co-incidence? Who knows, but you can see some of this look developing earlier and I think the "novelty" drafts in The Blue Book of Men's Tailoring shows evidence of this direction in fashion.

Enjoy and I'll post more later.

military overcoat

One of our tasks this year was to copy this vintage military coat. The original had a label from 1953, and was in fair condition- a few moth holes here and there, and it was missing it's button-in lining. The reason we couldn't use it was size- it is a size 38R and we needed a 46 tall.

I took notes and a few photos because I find that there are so many interesting details and frankly wonderful engineering on some of these vintage garments that you don't see anymore.

Some details were things that we didn't need to reproduce- the button out lining for one, as well as the type of armhole and resulting sleeve. The armhole dropped about 2" below the usual point, into a V shape. The sleeve had an underarm seam and a back seam but no front seam, and a correspondingly odd shape at the underarm to accommodate the V plus it had a grown-on gusset.

Below is our version- a lot longer proportionately than the original because the designer wanted calf length on a man 6' 5" tall. We also took the belt buckle and button from the vintage coat to use on the new one. All in all, a satisfying result.

suits 1910-11

Hockey Day in Canada is almost upon us (Jan 30th) and in that spirit I present the Boissevain, Manitoba Hockey Team- Intermediate Champions of 1910-11.

I couldn't resist this photo when I saw it in a shop window in a small town in Manitoba back in 1990. I had joined my husband who was on tour through Northern Ontario and Manitoba, and among the highlights of seeing more of our country was the time to check out many small town antique and junk shops. Their personalities seem to shine out at you from this hundred year old photo, and it made me wonder whether their young faces were next seen in another type of uniform.

It is a great reference for hockey clothing in general but also for the suits that the manager (left) and the "spare" (right) are wearing. I think they are both DB- there is a button showing on the front of the manager's suit. I think his seems a bit more unusual in style that the one on the right.

What is interesting to note is the general silhouette, the shoulder, the size of lapel, and the overall length.

Look at the angle of the gorge line and the subsequent length of the collar especially on the man on the right. The end of the gorge line where the lapel peaks is at least 2 1/2" below the knot of his tie. It's a young man's look of the time, and a real departure from the high buttoning style of the turn of the century just 10 years previous.

The manager is quite dapper in his starched shirt collar- you see, Don Cherry is just following tradition, but let's not talk about his suits. Really.

more frock coat details

Here is a shot of the undercollar and under the lapel. I was surprised that it was machined through the stand. It has been felled to the coat by hand. The collar end has been clean finished, the collar and lapel were edge-stitched by machine and then the collar was caught to the lapel with a very small cross-stitch. It has a functional buttonhole and loop behind.

This is the back step - you can see the hand stitching that catches the under step area to the coat itself.

The lining is cut in two pieces at the back, which is so much easier to put in. Linings can be without a waist seam here, which is was how I learned to do it, but I have changed to this method as well for the tailor's benefit. Cutting the lining all in one is guaranteed to cause heart palpitations when you make that clip for the first time.

frock coat details

It is difficult to take good photos of black garments.

If you enlarge the picture of the lapel, you will see how nicely made it is. Please ignore the little crumpling on the lapel-my iron was not hot so I did not press this coat.

There is a beautiful shape to the lapel, and it has a thin neat edge because it was cut on the fold. It has been seamed only on the top edge that abuts the collar and this seam travels just about 1/2" or so around the lovely curved peak of the lapel. The outer edge of the lapel has been shaped with the iron into a gentle curve, and then shrunk in at the CF before being seamed to the body.

You can see the handmade buttonhole and the machine edge stitch here. Some frock coats are cut with a silk facing but this is all wool. I wonder whether it was made without silk for a particular reason. Mourning perhaps? Or maybe it was a less formal look.

Here's the first working buttonhole on the left front.

I thought I had managed to lose a button when I looked at the sleeve, but no, there are only two buttons here (on both sleeves) and a quite wide spacing. The false sleeve vent has a tiny curved edge that has been manipulated into the curve rather than having a facing sewn on.

The sleeves only are lined with a cotton sateen, it is almost a pale tobacco colour now with age.

DB frock coat

Now I'm on a roll, unpacking and looking at these things that I have kept, so I might as well continue to document them here- it is very nostalgic, and it gives me a break from the heavy work too-taking down shelves and putting them up again, and setting up my table.

I need help to move the industrial machines anyway, so I can justify a little detour into the past.

I bought this frock-coat in 1984 for the sum of $40.00 which was a lot to me then.

It is in excellent shape- except for a bit of light damage on one shoulder- take note! keep your vintage things out of the light or you will regret it. It is small about a size 38 yet it was cut for someone with a bit of a belly and perhaps an erect posture by the way it sits on a stand.

It is a traditional double breasted frock coat with cut on lapels- hence the center front seam. This differs from cutting a "grown-on" lapel which would be of one piece with the main front body piece, perhaps with a dart into the gorge for shaping. It has three functioning front buttons and closes up fairly high on the chest by virtue of it being DB. There is no outside breast pocket, but two inside breast pockets. It has beautifully handmade buttonholes, and the linings are put in by hand, but it has a machine top-stitch, in a very short stitch length on the edges.

The buttons are basketweave with a raised rim. The back is cut with a step at the centre back, and with the usual pleats in the back skirt. The skirt is moderate in fullness. I forgot to check to see if there were pockets installed in the pleats..... I'll have to check that, they usually do.

I was guessing that this would be Edwardian at the earliest, possibly an example from as late as the 1920's.

I'll share a few close-up shots of some of the details next post.

bow ties

That dashing young man in the thirties might have worn these bow ties. The one on top here is a plain silk that you must tie yourself, and the one below it is a pre-tied version in white pique. Stylistically they are quite different as well, so they are probably not of the same era. You can see that the silk tie has squared off ends and the cotton has pointed ends. Back in the box with these as well.

spats and gaiters

Spats and gaiters-

Spats being the short version, and in my vocabulary, gaiters being the longer- maybe there is another description for the ladies version.

I found a pair of men's wool spats and just one ladies gaiter while I was going through the boxes of things I keep at the studio. We are often called upon to make these to complement the costumes we are working on so it is nice to have examples to see the shapes and sizes and to note how they were constructed.

These are both made of a dense but not thick wool- it would have been felted for this purpose.

On the men's pair, the seam allowances are covered with a narrow 1/4" strip of leather that is topstitched in place. The same leather strip is used to finish off the inside of the top and bottom edges. The wool itself is cut raw along those edges.

The ladies gaiter has a narrow cotton canvas tape instead of leather to cover the seam allowances, and both have a layer of cotton canvas to reinforce the buttonhole and the button area. The men's spat has a leather strap and a buckle that go under the shoe, while the ladies gaiter has a matching wool strap and buckle.

They aren't in bad shape, all things considered, I think they have to be at least 75 years old, but maybe as old as a hundred.

It sometimes makes me wonder how people went from wearing these to how few dress accessories most people wear now. I don't think my daughter even unties her boots to put them on and off, so it's interesting to imagine the process of getting ready to go out, putting these on, on top of your lace up boots.

Back in the box they go. I should look up some information on how to conserve these things properly so they are here in another 75 years. Just add it to the to do list.

trash and treasures

I didn't think it would take me this long to get set up in the new studio space. Of course I have had some set backs:

The first- what are the odds that the day I paint the floor is the day the maintenance guy decided to finally look at a problem with the steam pipe fitting? The odds turn out to be.... surprise... 100%!

I finished painting the floor at 1pm and the next morning I came in to see, footprints, dirt, and a 5 gallon bucket half catching the drips from the 100 year old steam pipe fan fitting that was last inspected in 1951. Dreary days!

The second- going through boxes of things- I mean I was beginning to feel like I should be on an episode of hoarders - should I keep this or throw it out?

Luckily I found someone who was interested in my fabric scraps- one bin down.

Old patterns that I drafted and thought would come in useful? Gone- five boxes down.

The third-finding things that I had packed away and almost forgotten about such as this:

A cutter gave me this box when she retired, and although the box looks to be from the 1960's these waistcoats came with a little handwritten card on which was written: "Here's what the 110 lb size 32 dashing young man was wearing about town in 1930."

There is a silk bengaline backless dress waistcoat, a full back black bengaline waistcoat and a white cotton pique backless formal waistcoat (with two bow ties- one plain silk and one pre-tied white pique)

In another box, I found some shirt cuffs in their packaging with instructions on how to replace the cuffs on your shirt, a pair of men's wool spats, and one ladies wool gaiter.

I located the Edwardian DB frock coat that I bought from a used clothing store in 1984 and my father in law's tuxedo trousers from the 50's- just a little treasure trove altogether!

These of course I will pack away again and try to keep them from the ravages of time.

detachable paper collars

As I was packing things up the other day, I remembered that I had brought these paper collars out of the storage room for style options for one of the shows.

We have boxes and boxes of all styles of these detachable and disposable paper collars.
We also have boxes and boxes of vintage detachable starched cotton collars in sizes from 14 1/2 to 20.

Most of the styles that Arrow and other collar makers had to offer are in those boxes. I don't know who originally got them for the theatre, but they are valuable resource for us.

I remember when we used detachable collars more often then not (I mean in the theatre, I'm not quite that old!)
but with the labour costs as they are now, the wardrobe maintenance department can't afford to be boiling and starching collars. We will often, but not always end up making a new collar and sewing them right to the shirts instead.

So, I will retrieve some samples, make a pattern from the samples, grading up or down if I can't find the right size and make a mock-up for a fitting.

suspender engineering

Wendy brought these suspenders (braces) in the other day. They belonged to her great uncle who died about ten years ago. He was 98 when he passed. I can't begin to guess how old these suspenders are and I haven't had time to even look for any references in my research.
What struck me was the design and engineering involved in something that was of such "everyday" use, and how little of that detail we see in things today.