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I recently traded an identified officer's overcoat cape for this pair of trousers. There's a bit of story that came with them but it's impossible for me to verify; however, verbal provenance states that these were originally in a group from Alabama that included a CS officer's jacket, sword belt and sword. The original owner kept the pants and sold the rest of the group not believing the trousers had anything to do with the CS stuff because they are black. The guy I got these from says that he took them to the MoC 15 years ago; they claimed these were made from cloth identical to a few other pairs of CS trousers and overcoats....but who knows.
Trousers are made from a heavy, coarse black double-faced satinet. The hidden warp is dark gray cotton. Waistband facings and pocketing is low quality cotton drill while the fly facings are self-fabric and brown silecia. The trousers are completely hand-sewn with a grayish brown linen thread.
A wide variety of buttons including three styles of natural bone, Japanned tin w/wood back, darkened bone, and black horn, all original to the trousers. The lower fly button has been permanently encased by the fly stay-stitching. Note the buttonhole fly doesn't quite extend under the waistband lining.
Detail of the pocket and right side fly. The fly facing was sewn integral to the fly seam itself, then folded under and crudely top stitched at the edge. The rectangular pocket bags are simply back stitched and overcast along the raw edge; this is sometimes seen in military and civilian trousers of the period.
Adjustment belts are raw edged satinet and brown silecia bound with reddish-brown worsted wool tape. Note the bizarre tapered waistband and lack of a yoke or rise...they're actually lower in the back than the front. I am aware of at least two other original pairs of pants that were made without a yoke or rise, but the waistband made up for this by becoming wider/taller in the back. Ian McWherter pointed out to me that the waistbands here might have been put on backwards.
Detail of the left pocket. They are almost horizontal "slash" pockets save for the short extension at the out seams. The interior front pocket facings are raw-edged and overcast to the turned-under trouser panel then double top stitched. It appears as three rows of stitching on the front. The terminus of the pocket openings were randomly secured with tacking stitches instead of anything expected/sane.
I'm hoping to share more items as I get them; hopefully including some original Federal trousers and headgear!
Trousers are made from a heavy, coarse black double-faced satinet. The hidden warp is dark gray cotton. Waistband facings and pocketing is low quality cotton drill while the fly facings are self-fabric and brown silecia. The trousers are completely hand-sewn with a grayish brown linen thread.
A wide variety of buttons including three styles of natural bone, Japanned tin w/wood back, darkened bone, and black horn, all original to the trousers. The lower fly button has been permanently encased by the fly stay-stitching. Note the buttonhole fly doesn't quite extend under the waistband lining.
Detail of the pocket and right side fly. The fly facing was sewn integral to the fly seam itself, then folded under and crudely top stitched at the edge. The rectangular pocket bags are simply back stitched and overcast along the raw edge; this is sometimes seen in military and civilian trousers of the period.
Adjustment belts are raw edged satinet and brown silecia bound with reddish-brown worsted wool tape. Note the bizarre tapered waistband and lack of a yoke or rise...they're actually lower in the back than the front. I am aware of at least two other original pairs of pants that were made without a yoke or rise, but the waistband made up for this by becoming wider/taller in the back. Ian McWherter pointed out to me that the waistbands here might have been put on backwards.
Detail of the left pocket. They are almost horizontal "slash" pockets save for the short extension at the out seams. The interior front pocket facings are raw-edged and overcast to the turned-under trouser panel then double top stitched. It appears as three rows of stitching on the front. The terminus of the pocket openings were randomly secured with tacking stitches instead of anything expected/sane.
I'm hoping to share more items as I get them; hopefully including some original Federal trousers and headgear!
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