Sack Coat Fabric

[27thNCdrummer]

Is there a certain fabric that is most authentic for a civilian sack coat? Would jean's be better, or wool, or cotton?

[Carolann Schmitt]

Re: Sack Coat Fabric

Andrew -

There are a number of fabrics that would be appropriate for a civilian sack coat, depending on your location and socio-economic status. Have you checked any of the following sources for information?

Adams-Graf, John. “In Rags for Riches: A Daguerreian Survey of Forty-Niner’s Clothing.” Dress. Vol. 22 (1995), 59-68
Buck, Anne. Victorian Costume and Costume Accessories. New York: Universe Books, 1961.
Byrd, Penelope. The Male Image: Men’s Fashion in Britain, 1300-1970. London: B.T. Batsford, Ltd., 1979
Chenoune, Farid. A History of Men’s Fashions. Paris: Flammarion, 1993.
Cobrin, Harry A. The Men’s Clothing Industry: Colonial Through Modern Times. New York: Fairchild Publications, 1970
Compaing, Charles. The Tailor’s Guide: A Complete System of Cutting Every Kind of Garment to Measure, Containing Upwards of Five Hundred Diagrams. Two Volumes. London: Simpkin, Marshall, 1855-1856.
Conkling, Margaret. The American Gentlemen’s Guide to Politeness and Fashion. New York: Derby and Jackson, 1857
Cunnington, C. Willet and Phillis Cunnington. Handbook of English Costume in the Nineteenth Century. Boston: Plays, Inc. 1970.
Davenport, Milia. The Book of Costume. New York: Crown Publishers, 1948.
Davis, R.L. Men’s Garments 1830-1900, a Guide to Pattern Cutting and Tailoring. Studio City, CA: Player’s Press, 1994.
de Marly, Diana. Fashion for Men: An Illustrated History. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1985.
Devere, Louis. The Handbook of Practical Cutting on the Centre Point System (1866). Revised and enlarged edition edited by R.L. Shep. Mendocino, CA: R.L.Shep, 1986.
Doyle, Robert. The Art of the Tailor. Stratford, Ontario: Sartorial Press Publications, 2005.
Harvey, John. Men in Black. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1995.
Hasluck, P.N. Tailor’s Guide. Reprint. Williamsburg, VA: Rick Haven, 1994.
Kidwell, Claudia Brush. Suiting Everyone: The Democratization of Clothing in America. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1974.
Severa, Joan. Dressed for the Photographer: Ordinary Americans & Fashion 1840-1900. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1995.
-----. My Likeness Taken: Daguerreian Portraits in America. Kent, Ohio: The Kent State University Press, 2005.
Shannon, Brent. The Cut of His Coat: Men, Dress, and Consumer Culture in Britain, 1860-1914. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2006.
Shep, R.L. and W.S. Salisbury. Civil War Gentlemen: 1860s Apparel Arts & Uniforms. Mendocino, CA: R.L. Shep, 1994.
Walker, Richard. Savile Row: An Illustrated History. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc.
Waugh, Norah. The Cut of Men’s Clothes 1600-1900. New York: Theatre Art Books, 1964.
Zakim, Michael. Ready-Made Democracy: A History of Men’s Dress in the American Republic, 1760- 1860. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.

Regards,
Carolann Schmitt

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: Sack Coat Fabric

In general, I find jean to not be in use by most white males who are not the bottom feeders or wish to project that they are not. In my research I have found Confederate soldiers who expressed astonishment at having to wear "Negro cloth" (and many not being so kind as to call it "Negro").

As usual, I highly recommend visiting Vicki Betts' wonderful newspaper page (http://www.uttyler.edu/vbetts/)

In doing so I found a few of the following things:

Cassimere sacks for men and boys. (COLUMBUS [GA] ENQUIRER, April 10, 1860, p. 4, c. 6)

Satinette "pants and coats" (DEMOCRAT AND PLANTER [Columbia, TX], August 13, 1861, p. 2, c. 3 [note: Galveston advertisement])

Alpaca sacks and frocks (SEMI-WEEKLY RALEIGH REGISTER, June 29, 1861, p. 3, c. 7)

Linen and Marseilles coats (SOUTHERN BANNER [ATHENS, GA], May 11, 1864, p. 3, c. 4)

Of course there is always a nice broadcloth.

[27thNCdrummer]

Re: Sack Coat Fabric

Is there a search function on Mrs. Betts' page?

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: Sack Coat Fabric

Most certainly there is, if you click on "Newspapers Research" then "Files by Newspaper Titles" you will see the search in the upper left corner. I also second Carolann's suggestion of the in print resources she has provided.

[Jennifer T Wisener]

Re: Sack Coat Fabric

Also, if you are thinking of making a civilian coat the Elizabeth Stewart Clark discussion board under the Academy at Home has some wonderful folks discussing how to make civilian clothes; women, children and men.

[Pvt Peck]

Re: Sack Coat Fabric

An interesting read as far as goods carried by dry goods suppliers is to peruse "The Southern Business Directory & General Commercial Advertiser" by John Paul Cambell 1854. Many of the dry goods suppliers single out having Negro Goods on hand, Negro Blankets & Negro Kerseys. The only reference to jean I found was listing Kentucky Jeans as a product carried by certain merchants. This book can be seen by searching Google books and makes for good reading, though I had a hard time with the blunt commercialism of slavery. You will see ads for merchants who deal in real estate and the sale of Negros. It is an interesting slice of Southern life in the pre war period. Good luck with your coat project.

Edward Parrott

[27thNCdrummer]

Re: Sack Coat Fabric

Would a cotton cassimere coat be a good choice?

Also, I searched Mrs. Betts' site for corduroy. There are some papers mentioning corduroy frocks so I assume it would also be correct for a sack?

[ohpkirk]

Re: Sack Coat Fabric

While Mr. Dabney's post is true to an extent, the usage 'homespun" jeans and linsey's were used on a largescale basis in Texas (as well as GA according to some of the newspaper accounts) during the war. The Texas coast was never effectively blockaded during the war and dry goods from Europe continued to enter the state through Galveston, Corpus Christi, and Houston as well as through Matamoras in Mexico. However in 1862 a self sustainability movement urging the citizens to turn to 'hog, hominy, and homespun' the staples of life instead of relying on the textile mills of the North. By 1864 it was estimated that 4/5 of the state's population was in some form of homespun. (which could be any variety of cloth, though homespun jeans are mentioned specifically in several articles from the Houston Tri-Weekly Telegraph)

I would suggest that a study be done of the area where you would have originated and the cloth available to the socio-economic background of the person you are portraying. Also keep in mind, there was a large second hand industry in the denser populated areas, so a well worn sack coat constructed out of material that would have been too expensive or fine for a lower class person would have been accessible.

[Edwin Carl Erwin]

Re: homespun

[HOUSTON] TRI-WEEKLY TELEGRAPH, November 23, 1863, p. 2, c. 1

The Blockade Trade.

Our foreign trade has now become reduced to the precarious tenure of running the blockade. The trade must necessarily be quite small, and is alike for the interest of the Government and the people to make the most possible of it in the way of supplying the necessities of life. To this end, if it were possible, the traffic should be limited to such food and clothing, as well as munitions of war, as the army and people need most. . . Still it will be far from supplying as many of the wants of the country as the Rio Grande trade did, and it becomes our people to make the most ample provisions for themselves without the hope of foreign goods. Let homespun be the clothing of the people. Let the ladies appear in domestic checks, and the men in domestic jeans. It may be expensive at first, but in time we shall all be better clothed, and far wealthier in our independence than when dependent on Yankeeland and England for our clothing.
At the best the blockade trade will not supply one-tenth of the wants that are inclined to depend upon it. We hope it will be made as useful to the country as possible, and that for the rest of the country may use every expedient possible to dispense with the goods it brings.