Machine Top Stitching on Federal Trousers

[dirtyshirt]

All,
I don't know if this is the right place to ask this. I have done a search for any information and did not find any. Does anyone know or has anyone seen if a pair of JT Martin Trousers were ever ENTIRELY machine sewn (Save maybe the waste band)? Ie. Pocket top stitching, fly, etc? I'd appreciate any feed back. Thank you.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Machine Top Stitching on Federal Trousers

Hallo!

IMHO...

I would be surprised to see such a creature.

The sewing machines in use among contractors were not well-suited for the fine detail work, either being financially "impractical" in terms of per piece time or profitability.
NUG, the "long" seams were machine sewn, and as far as possible the "less finer" detail type work.

Curt

[CJDaley]

Re: Machine Top Stitching on Federal Trousers

All,
I don't know if this is the right place to ask this. I have done a search for any information and did not find any. Does anyone know or has anyone seen if a pair of JT Martin Trousers were ever ENTIRELY machine sewn (Save maybe the waste band)? Ie. Pocket top stitching, fly, etc? I'd appreciate any feed back. Thank you.

The pair at the US QM Museum is mostly machine sewn, but still had a TON of hand work. The waist band lining, parts of the pocket bags, bar tacks, hemming the cuff and of course buttonholes and attaching the buttons are done by hand.

But, the pocket topstitching, fly topstitching, across the bottom of the waist band and all the inside straight seams are done by machine, ditto the topstitching on the cuffs....I have photos, but they are 35MM and not scanned in, I'll try to scan them in for you and maybe post my notes, but today is my only day off until new year's day so I'm limited on time.

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Machine Top Stitching on Federal Trousers

Brandon,

I examined the corporal's pair that are in EoG: Union recently. This pair of trousers is only the second I've seen in person that are marked J.T. Martin, the first being completely hand-sewn with mule-ear pockets. The corporal's trousers feature machine-sewn seams, topstitching on the cuffs, watch pocket opening, and side-seam pocket openings, buttonhole fly attachment, and button fly lining. Pretty much everything else on the trousers appeared to be hand-sewn, including the waistband lining which was "laid on." I only had about fifteen minutes to examine the garment so I might have missed plenty more details.