> I'm trying to translate instructions from _The Cut of Men's Clothes_ for
> the assembly of an 18th century coat. (page 88 of the recent hardcover
> edition)
>
> "The backs are joined together by backstitching on the wrong side and then
> fine-drawing on the right, working from the skirt opening upwards."
Dawn, Bjarne,
I assumed that norah Waugh was using modern (possibly tailor's)
terminology to describe what she saw. The expression wasnt in my
jargon, either.
I took it to mean blind catch stitching. I got an mid-19thc mans
frock coat in my collection out and examined it. (Oldest relevant
thing I have.) It has that same small inserted bit i the skirting,
near the CB. The amount of skirting is obvious much less than the
1750s. The tailor of this 19th c jacket, formed the pleat, then,
working from the inside, did a catch-stitch abt 1/2 to 1 cm from the
fold to permanently shape the pleat. (Cant quite tell without ripping
the lining.)
Cut of Men's Clothes says to so this working from the hem towards the
waist. I my experiments, I discovered that doing so keeps the hang in
the right spot as errors magnify going hem-wards.
Here's an amazingly bad ASCII drawing:
inside of garment
/------cb------\ right side pleat
catch stitches at this point ^ \ /
------------------------------------------------
-------------------------
outside of garment, viewer would be here
Clear as mud?
Originally, I thought it might be tailor's jargon for a french seam,
but, as I had cut the jacket, the skirt almost-CB seam was hidden
behind the pleats.
Why dont you ask the Savile Row guy who runs to the cutting &
tailoring blog? Post the answer for us, too.
--cin
Cynthia Barnes
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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