Thomas Taylor Montgomery Shell

This Montgomery Depot shell jacket is based off of the famous portrait of Pvt Thomas Taylor of the 8th Louisiana and (more so) off an extant jacket in Echoes of Glory.

http://thecivilwarparlor.tumblr.com/post/46115732563/glimpse-of-a-soldiers-life-private-thomas-taylor
(I couldn't find a public domain image, but here's a link).

Many of the Alabama depots put out plain, butternut-color shell jackets that look so similar, they are impossible to distinguish from another, apart from provenance. But the Montgomery shell has a distinctive piped collar and those chevrons on the sleeve cuffs. I like the looks of it. Also, it was worn by our 6th Alabama cavalry, and nobody else is making it.

I used some wool I had on hand. I got it half off at fashionfabricsclub.com, where I order almost all my wool.  They have such good prices, but it's always a surprise when it comes in the mail. 

Sure enough, it didn't look at all like the picture or description. In fact, it was better. It looks like jean, since it has contrasting warp and weft threads. But it's Italian wool -- soft and light as a favorite T-shirt. It's delightful. However, I'll produce some real scratchy jean ones, later on.

It was made at the last minute to fit a college friend of my husband's, who came to spend the weekend with us at the Selma event. There was no time to order buttons or trim, so I bought the buttons from Rum Creek sutler on Saturday morning, sewed them on before lunch, and it went into battle in the afternoon. 

The Rum Creek owner gave me great advice on what color wooden buttons to get. They look so beautiful against the fabric. 

The chevrons are made of folded wool fabric, rather than cotton or wool twill tape or lace, since I didn't have time to order anything. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing; it was what I had on hand.

I'll do a post soon about these homespun mounted trousers. I learned a lot while making them, so the next pair will be better (and hopefully not have a "girl fly"...oops...that happens when you sew in a hurry!)

The kepi matches. It was made from scraps, and now I think the visor sticks out too far. The sweatband should be reinforced and it isn't (I didn't realize this till later). It doesn't have a chinstrap either, but there are a few in Echoes of Glory that don't either, so maybe that's OK. I'm still learning hat-making. There's a lot to learn.

Finally, here's a picture of my husband (right, wearing the 1st Virginia cavalry shell) together with our friend (left, wearing the Montgomery shell). What a great weekend!

Update:

I did a little more research on the Montgomery depot, and was able to verify the following facts from Confederate Home Front: Montgomery During the Civil War by William Warren Rogers, Jr. There was a clothing depot that issued clothing, tents, and other items. It was under the charge of Major J. L. Calhoun, the Alabama quartermaster. The office was at the corner of Bibb and Commerce in Montgomery. In 1864 the chief clothing quartermaster of Alabama, Captain William Gillaspie, joined the operation, and in late 1864 he had 12 tailors working for the depot.

The next step is to find out exactly what provenance the Museum of the Confederacy has that links the surviving jacket to Montgomery, and to go into the quartermaster correspondence records to try to match up some descriptions to verify and date it. Unfortunately my toddler finds the archives of our library very fun to shout in because of the echo of the domed roof, so I can never in good conscience stay more than ten minutes per visit. These things take a little while.

1st Virginia Cavalry Jacket - Gala Rock Richmond Depot II

Before I draft my own pattern for a particular garment, I like to learn using someone else's pattern -- in this case, the shell jacket and the Gala Rock Richmond Depot II pattern.

The pattern leaves much to be desired. The neck was in a weird place; the wrists were too small to get normal size man-hands through. I made about a dozen changes to the pattern just for fit. And my husband is quite standard; all his modern Army 40L uniforms fit perfectly. However, I shifted the neck back, added the L to the 40, widened the cuffs, lowered the armscythe, and generally cut and slashed the pattern to bits.

 Once I got a well-fitting base, I made pattern pieces for the cuffs and collar unique to the 1st VA cavalry jacket.  Since it's an early war jacket, I went with the modern interpretation of it. In hindsight, I wish I had reproduced the work of this young man's imaginative tailor:


Since I was portraying a tailor-made jacket, I went full-steam ahead with the modifications to improve and flatter the fit. I did ironwork:

And I added padding to the shoulders. Next time I will try padding the chest as well:

I attached the hussar bar braid before I attached the coat to the body, and I was glad I did. I marked it with flour before pinning, which worked well. It was less difficult to brush off than, say, blue chalk.

 The final product fits very well. However, although my husband loves it -- he is Virginian to the core! -- it still seems wanting, to me, and I'm not sure what isn't quite right. It's not horrible for my first shell jacket, though, and I'll keep making them and probably figure out what is annoying me about it.

We'll get better pictures at the next event, but here's a quick cell phone snap: