A question on sewing Civil War clothes

[maillemaker]

I am considering getting a Charlie Childs kit for a pair of trousers.

My wife has an 1890's-era Singer foot-powered sewing machine. Will this produce accurate stitches for machine sewing of the machine-sewn parts of ACW clothing?

What sort of thread is appropriate to use?

Thanks,

Steve

[dirtyshirt]

Re: A question on sewing Civil War clothes

Hi Steve,
Many different sewing machines are used by vendors to sew clothing these days. I used a singer from the 70's for many many years. So, if your wife's sewing machine is in good working order you should be fine to use it. As for thread, there are again many different types that can be used depending on the application you're using it for. I can't recall the weight of thread I use at this time though. I do know you don't want to use the kind of thread you can easily break with minimal effort. Hope this little bit helps.

[maillemaker]

Re: A question on sewing Civil War clothes

Hi Brandon,

I guess what I was asking is does her 1890's Singer make a stitch that looks like a Civil War machine-sewn stitch?

As for the thread, I'm guessing wool, cotton, or linen thread is the stuff to use, matching the foundation fabric?

[Hank Trent]

Re: A question on sewing Civil War clothes

Yes, the lockstitch will appear the same as a period lockstitch, unless you're reproducing a specific garment that was sewn on a chainstitch machine. Lockstitch machines were quite common in the period, though typically the stitches per inch were set higher than we do today. Unless you know specifically that the garment(s) you're reproducing were made with low stitches per inch, somewhere around 12-18 was fairly typical, depending on the fineness of the fabric, etc.

As far as thread, for practical purposes, 100% cotton regular machine sewing thread is generally acceptable in the hobby and will appear virtually identical and function about the same, except it may be more color-fast. If you want to get into the details of ply, S vs Z twist, mercerization and natural dyes, those things are theoretically worth exploring as far as what was typical then vs. now, but not something I know off the top of my head. I think Barbara Brackman in Clues in the Calico or some of her other quilt history books discusses different thread types in different eras.

Edited to add: in addition to cotton, silk thread was also used, usually for silk garments or as "buttonhole twist" for buttonholes, and linen thread was also used where strength was important. Wool thread is/was generally too weak for more than decorative embroidery and hard to run through a machine.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[maillemaker]

Re: A question on sewing Civil War clothes

Hi Hank,

Thanks a million, that was precisely the kind of info I was looking for. I'm trying to make my gear "acceptable to the hobby" by the standards set around here. Right now I've got a complete farb kit (except for my Bender hat that should be in any day) that I rushed to get together so I could do N-SSA shooting without borrowing stuff, but now I want to swap out all the farb gear for good gear.

Steve

[Cpt Boone]

Re: A question on sewing Civil War clothes

For thread you can use the A&E (American & Efird) 16/4 thread from Atlanta Thread & Supply. Same stuff Charlie Childs sells or sold. http://store.atlantathread.com/size164500yd.html It is heavier and holds up well.

[maillemaker]

Re: A question on sewing Civil War clothes

Thanks for the thread suggestion and link!

Steve