County Cloth - Charlie Childs

[paulcalloway]

County Cloth, Inc.
13797-C Georgetown St. NE
Paris, Ohio 44669
Phone: 330-862-3307
crchilds@bright.net
www.crchilds.com

Mon. - Fri., 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM

What he sells:
Blankets, patterns, uniform kits ( you assemble ) and finished uniforms. Per his website - Plan for 6 months on finished uniforms.

My personal experience with Charlie Childs has been in ordering fabrics. His uniform-coat material is second to none and shipping was immediate.

Many members of this forum know him personally so they will likely pipe-in with their thoughts and experiences.

[CJDaley]

Re: County Cloth - Charlie Childs

He's been researching CW garments since the 1960s. He's been professionally reproducing clothing for over 20 years and his patterns, cloth, blankets and finished goods are second to none. You won't be disappointed with any product from County Cloth.

[BarryDusel]

Re: County Cloth - Charlie Childs

About 16 years ago I made my first purchase from Charlie. That purchase was a pr. of SA/EM trowsers. Those trowsers , although somewhat faded are still with me today. They have held up remarkably well. Only recently did I procure a 2nd pr of trowsers as a precaution . Anyway, I think I can second Chris Daleys' post. No one can go wrong ordering from CC.

[Jefferson Guards]

Re: County Cloth - Charlie Childs

I just recently saw Charlie has K3 kersey for sale. Is this fabric also representative of English imported cloth? It looks to be a darker color than his K1 and closer to the English Cloth Pat Kline was weaving. Has anyone seen this cloth up close and can offer an opinion on it?

[Makoski4141]

Re: County Cloth - Charlie Childs

I was just on his website but, I could not find any civilian trouser patterns. Does anybody know where on his website I can find them?

Thanks,

Andrew Birnbaum

[Michael Semann]

Re: County Cloth - Charlie Childs

Andrew,
Mr. Childs doesn't market a CIVILIAN trouser pattern. His specialty is Military garments, save for a few shirt patterns that are of military provenance, but civilian origin.

[BarryDusel]

Re: County Cloth - Charlie Childs

Back up to Andrew. Contact Corner Clothier for civilian clothing. Kara and Speedy make the best civilian clothing available.

[Jefferson Guards]

Re: County Cloth - Charlie Childs

If you really want to split hairs about civilian trousers, the confederate trouser patterns that Charlie Childs manufactures are appropriate for civilian use. There is no difference in cut of the "richmond depot" pattern trousers and the cuts illustrated in the various tailoring manuals I have seen of mid nineteenth century provenance. Furthermore, the features ("mule ear" pockets, buckle back &c.) are in keeping with the details of original civilian trousers of the period. Obvously, there is a great variety of details inherent in the civilian clothing market that is not seen to the extent in a military clothing establishment. I have found that these patterns can be easily altered to provide for a wide-range of documentable civilian variations as well.

[Huck]

Re: County Cloth - Charlie Childs

This is from John Stillwagon, posted a few weeks ago!

As an aside, the trousers that Chris Daley is reproducing from the Gettysburg collection are sometimes called the "Louisiana" trousers. As the story was related to me, this was based on an off-hand remark made by a historian when the trousers were acquired in preparation for the 125th anniversary of the battle.)

To answer the bigger question of CS trousers, several scholars of CS military material culture, most notably Nick ************, have documented that CS military trousers are simply existing civilian patterns adopted for military purposes. As such, one can't cleanly delineate the source of these garments as has been done to some degree with CS jackets. However, there are plenty of CS trousers with documentable usage to armies and departments and several patterns appear to cross this spectrum. (Which makes sense since they are of common civilian patterns.) For example, the "Richmond Depot" trouser is something of a misnomer created largely for marketing purposes. While trousers of this pattern were undoubtedly produced in Richmond and/or worn by ANV soldiers, they were also produced elsewhere. A quick glace at the trouser section of CS EoG will confirm this.

Years ago, when County Cloth was the primary supplier for authentic trousers, ANV reenactors bought "Richmond Depot" trousers while AoT reenactors bought their "Other Issue" trousers. Over the years, this practice became rule and then rule became law and many of us are surprised to see the practice continue in spite of evidence to the contrary. In fact, both those patterns are based on trousers with ANV provenance but both patterns, with some variations, appear all over the South.

So, to finally answer your question, the CS trousers that you asked about have no documentable link to the battle of Gettysburg or the ANV but are a perfectly good generic (or PEC if you prefer) pair of CS trousers.

[DougCooper]

Re: County Cloth - Charlie Childs

I just recently saw Charlie has K3 kersey for sale. Is this fabric also representative of English imported cloth? It looks to be a darker color than his K1 and closer to the English Cloth Pat Kline was weaving. Has anyone seen this cloth up close and can offer an opinion on it?

Brian - from the website (fed fabric page):

"#K3 - 100% Wool, 54” wide. This is the U.S. Army coat fabric in use from the War of 1812 until 1832."

BTW - got a civilian sack coat and a Dept of Alabama jacket from Charlie this year - superb about covers it!

[Jefferson Guards]

Re: County Cloth - Charlie Childs

Thanks Doug

I saw it on the CS fabric page without a description, didn't think of looking on the Federal page!

[Mark Lewis]

Re: County Cloth - Charlie Childs

I wore one of Charlie's Columbus Depot Jackets and a pair of his "other issue" trousers for over 10 years and sold them for more than I paid.

[jgude]

Re: County Cloth - Charlie Childs

Does anyone know if Charlie Childs has a new email? I tried to contact him, but the email on the website is not working.

Jared

[Mark Lewis]

Re: County Cloth - Charlie Childs

crchilds1@frontier.com

is working

[Lucky]

Re: County Cloth - Charlie Childs

"I wore one of Charlie's Columbus Depot Jackets and a pair of his "other issue" trousers for over 10 years and sold them for more than I paid. "

I have no doubt this is correct.

What's up Mark.