Shelter Half Stitching

[Pvt. McNutt]

Hello all,

I'm currently working on a Cin't Dept. shelter half, fully hand sewn like on documented in Gaede's Shelter Tent, number 13 to be exact. Anyway, one of the things I'm noticing in the various pictures of hand sewn seams throughout the book is that they appear to be sewn together using an interlocking flat-fell sort of thing i guess... I would totally understand a running stitch holding the two pieces together, and then a felled seam in order to prevent unraveling, but from images 62, 63, and 83-85, it really looks like they seams were interlocked (as shown in example 1 of figure 78) and then felled on each side... am I missing where the running stitch should be, or is this in fact the correct method for hand sewing the main seams? Or perhaps could one side of the stitching have originally been a running stitch, though use has pulled it apart enough to appear to be a fell... thoughts anyone?

I appreciate the help.

Bridger

[4VADRUMMER]

Re: Shelter Half Stitching

Sir, Have you ever seen David Turpins article on Shelter halves? He goes into much detail and all of his stuff is well researched with pictures and stuff. Here is the link:http://members.multimania.co.uk/lazyjacks/shelter.htm
Hope this helps Pard!

[Silas]

Re: Shelter Half Stitching

This link is easier on the eyes : http://www.lazyjacks.org.uk/shelter.htm

[Pvt. McNutt]

Re: Shelter Half Stitching

I appreciate the links, gents, but my question is more concerning entirely hand sewn halves. It's a very helpful link, but it doesn't totally help my 'stitchuation' because he doesn't actually discuss doing the long seams by hand, unless I somehow missed that in the article. If I did, please correct me, I have been known to overlook things =p

[wade03]

Re: Shelter Half Stitching

Bridger,
From the few that I have examined they seem to go both ways. I don't have the pictures on this computer but one of the shelter halves I've handled was made by the two pieces being off set by a 1/4" and running stitched then the extra 1/4" was tucked under the shorter end and felled. Its really hard to explain without my photos, I'll see if I can post them tonight. I know other shelter halves were interlocked and felled on both sides. In all actuality, these things were sewn by different people over the period of the war. As long as they held together and pass inspection they could have been sewn many ways.

[Curt Schmidt]

Re: Shelter Half Stitching

Hallo!

A short answer is.... it is a "back stitch" that holds the seam together, and a tacking or "running" stitch secures the flat felled type seam.

Curt

[GreencoatCross]

Re: Shelter Half Stitching

Attached is a quick drawing of the method Wade described. Rather than having the edges of the cloth lined up, one edge is dropped 1/4" while the other is kept at 1/2" to 3/4". The seam is stitched and the longer seam allowance is simply turned under the shorter allowance and felled as usual. This eliminates having to trim 1/4" off of the "hidden" seam allowance if the edges of the cloth were flush.

I've seen original shelter halves with the method here and also made with allowances interlocked/folded together. The former method shows only one line of stitching on the tent surface (felling) while the latter method shows both lines of stitching on both sides. Original tents also exhibit a wide variety of stitching length, thread type, finishing methods, etc. A contract Cincinnati tent* was machined with relatively thick 3-cord cotton thread while another Cincinnati tent made "in-house" is crudely sewn with cotton thread comparable to modern Size 3 crochet yarn. The hand-sewn Cincinnati tent is running stitched at 2-3 per inch while the overcast seam allowances and hems are about the same.

* The original I mention here is what I believe to be a contract tent half made for Cincinnati. It's machine-sewn (as opposed to extant Cincinnati tents that are all hand-sewn) but exhibits features similar to the Cincinnati tents: darkened bone buttons, button reinforcements, and 3-piece horizontal seams. However, this tent has several expert repairs done with different thread and by another hand including replacement of all corners (replacements are blue-line duck and drill on both sides, hand sewn, with the tent fabric itself missing from the inside) and rips/tears along the edges. This particular tent is listed in Gaede's shelter tent book as No. 9. Gaede also states that a tent refurbishing depot was operating in Louisville, KY during the war, so it's possible that this tent was repaired there, marked with the famous "WN" stamp, and reissued. Or it could be repairs done by a solder and those are his initials....who knows!

[Pvt. McNutt]

Re: Shelter Half Stitching

The hand-sewn Cincinnati tent is running stitched at 2-3 per inch while the overcast seam allowances and hems are about the same.

Dang, that's almost small basting! Big stitches..

Thank you Wade and Brian, that was a really big help. Can either of you tell which method, a running stitch or interlocking fell, seemed to be more common? Probably rather hard to tell from the few surviving examples, but I didn't know if either of you could make any educated guesses either way.

Thanks again, gents. That was really helpful.

Bridger

[fahnenschmied]

Re: Shelter Half Stitching

I was looking at my notes last night on the shelter tent owned by Alfred May, which I suspect is NOT the product of a Federal contract - but it is entirely handsewn, in a similar fashion to the Cincinnati Depot ones. I am pretty sure it was done as Brians drawings show - it is running stitched then the edges are whip stiched with big long stitches, yes, two or three to the inch. The corner reinforces have typically only nine stitches per edge!
However, my sketch may show something different than the photos. I'll see if Wade can get me the photos....as I am starting a copy of the May shelter tent....these photos might help your project too.

[fahnenschmied]

Re: Shelter Half Stitching

Bridger,

I have not gotten the photographs yet, but perhaps something better. The one who took the photos is the seamstress at our historic site, and when I explained why I wanted the images and described the seam, which looks the same on both sides, she told me it was possibly a "German felled seam". I tried this on a scrap of canvas with my heavy crochet thread and it gives the same result as the photos in Gaedes book. I was going to tell you to just google it up, but I tried that myself, and the only result was virtual cricket chirping.
To do this, lay your cloth together with one edge @1/4 or 3/8th from the other edge - use the selvedge for the longer part. If not, allow some part to fold back "on top" as you are looking at it. Whipstitch along the edge of the shorter part, and when done, fold the other edge back over and whipstitch its edge in a similar fashion.


In effect, you lay it together - assuming you have selvedge edges - just like Brians sketch, but you whipstitch the seams. If you don't have selvedges, you fold the raw edges back on top. Hope this makes sense. It goes pretty quickly, and doesn't pull apart nearly so badly as a running stitch on one side. All the stitching on the tent, except buttonholes and grommets, is done with this same whip stitch. If I had a camera I could post a "how to"...perhaps later...

[Pvt. McNutt]

Re: Shelter Half Stitching

David,

Thank you for the information, this is really helpful! I was able to follow your directions just fine, and you are right, when my stitching isn't crappy it looks spot on to the examples. This was really helpful, thank you again David. If you do end up getting additional pictures, please send them my way. Amazing that, disregarding buttonholes and grommets, the whole tent is assembled with one stitch.

From the conclusions I had come to above, I was doing close to the same thing, whip stitching it on both sides, but was making things much more complicated than the simplicity of the German method you mention.

My last question is still, out of the few available specimens left, which method seems to be more common? A running stitch with a flat fell, or the German felled seam? From the only two photographed hand sewn examples in Gaede's book (a third hand sewn example was never photographed), it would lead me to believe the German felled seam, which both use that method. But you mention May's tent with a running stitch, and Brian says he's seen a Cin't Depot tent with a running stitch as well. Wonder what's more common? I would imagine the German fell is underrepresented, though... =]

[fahnenschmied]

Re: Shelter Half Stitching

From looking at the photos, based on the samples I made, I don't think a running stitch was used on any of them. The bottom of the whip stitch looks like a running stitch - this is why I thought May's tent had a running stich - but no trial I made with a running stich looked right.
I too was working out a complicated way for some samples - maybe I would have figured it out - but this way is simple.
Glad I can help - perhaps I can get the not-probably-Federal shelter tent photos next week.....

[Andrew Keehan]

Re: Shelter Half Stitching

Both no. 8 and no. 13 are assembled with interlocking seams, whip-stitched in place. Basically folding 3/8" of both edges, turning one over, and putting the folds together. The two photos are from a type 2a I made using the stitching examples of tents 8 and 13. The thread is smaller, but you can get the idea.