More Progress, and the Pattern

I'm down to the cleanup stages of hemming, and fixing small mistakes and loose places on the trim. The waistcoat fits perfectly across the middle, but not around the collar, where it is too loose because I added a straight panel up the center without taking into account the Admiral's slight pear shape. I am planning on stuffing the gap with cravat lace anyway.:D

The waistcoat buttons are by Dritz, made by fairly compensated German labor, and they are flawless (and heavy). Here is a closeup of the imperfect La Mode anchor button, made by disaffected labor in China: "If you pretend to pay me, I will pretend to make buttons for you."

The anchor buttons, in spite of my attempts to stitch them on in creative ways to make them line up, quietly turn themselves around so that the shanks line up with the buttonholes. I am happy with the Hercules gimp and the thinner braid twist that make up the cuff trim. The braid twist does need to be applied by hand because the sewing machine needle breaks the mylar thread covering and flattens the braid, but the braid itself glides around corners beautifully. And the rayon tablecloth looks great up close with the trim covering the soup spots!

Here is the pattern, Simplicity 4923. I went back and bought a second one on sale yesterday, in a smaller size for me so I can make myself a winter coat, now that I know how this one goes together. The XL size is an idealized size for a 48 inch chested guy with a flat stomach--you will need to add around the waist for middle-aged guys, but the pattern has a lot of accurate period detail with the convenience of some modern things like pattern notches. I added the patch pockets and of course the lapels and the collar on the coat, which I don't recommend doing unless you like to pull things off again or are a better seamstress than I am. (I'd also rework the cuffs to be simple rectangles that fold over to make self-facings, and cut them on the bias.)

"Andrea Schewe" historical costume patterns are all nice, I have used several and they are easy to make "more period" if you feel like it. Her Victorian stuff looks especially good.