Richmond Depot Collar

[jfeagin]

Hi, I am in the process of sewing up a Richmond Depot II jacket and have a question that perhaps those of you who have done this before might be able to answer.

The question is... How do you go about setting the collar? I have sewed up a pair of drawers, federal issue shirt, and a Hollyday shirt. In all cases I have noticed that the shirt collars, some cuffs, and the waistband of the drawers are set very similarly, that is, with the seem allowance turned up into the collar/cuff/waistband.

Do you do the same with the collar on the jacket? I am using the Childs pattern and it is a little unclear to me on this step.

Thanks in advance to any ideas.

John Feagin

[rake]

Re: Richmond Depot Collar

The way it looks to me is -
1. outside of the collar (one layer of material only) raw edge to raw edge of the jacket collar. Sew it together.
2. lining edge folded over the raw edge and whip stitched
3. sew through the two layers of collar at the base, which will be the seam shown at the bottom of the outside of the collar as seen in the pictures

[Michael McComas]

Re: Richmond Depot Collar

Mr. Feagin,

There are different ways to do it, depending on which original jacket you happen to be looking at. As Mr. Attaway has described, that is one way do attach the collar.

Another very common way is as follows:

1) Sew Outer Collar and Interlining to body of jacket, right sides together.
2) Press seam flat.
3) Turn down 1/4" of outer collar and trim edges of interlining. Whip stitch edge to interlining.
4) Turn under edge of lining, whip stitch to collar/body seam.
5) Turn under 1/4" of Inner Collar and press. Lay flat over outer collar and lining.
6) Whip stitch inner collar to outer collar and lining.
7) Topstitch.

Another way to do it:

1) Sew Inner Collar to Outer Collar and Interlining.
2) Trim edge of Interlining. Turn and press.
3) Sew Outer Collar to jacket body.
4) Press seam open.
5) Whip stitch raw edge of Inner Collar to raw edge of jacket body.
6) Turn under raw edge of lining and whip stitch to Inner Collar.

I've seen several jackets done the first way, at least two done the second way, and one that for sure had the collar edges pressed down into the body of the jacket (which is supposedly a sign of shoddy manufacture, even though this was an officer's shell jacket). That last is not a Depot product, but a Commutation garment.

With the relatively sparse number of original garments we have left to examine, it's hard to say "alway", "never", or even which way was the majority. It could well have been "Tailor's Choice". Has anyone ever seen a Depot directive on construction of garments? Or any intake/inspection records from the Depot? I can't say I've ever heard of either, but others have better access to the records than I.

Cheers,

Michael

[jfeagin]

Re: Richmond Depot Collar

Thanks to both of you for your answers. They have helped very much.

John Feagin