Buckskin Coat

[arizona_brigade]

I am looking to make a buckskin coat. The period I looking to emulate is the 1850s in the west (TX, NM, AZ). I have read several accounts of these being used in coats and in shirt form. What I am looking to do is make a coat. Where can I find good patterns for this time period for buckskin coats. Can I just modify one using a coat pattern and hunting frock pattern and combining elements of both? I am not looking to go over the top with fringe but just trying to make a period buckskin coat of the 1850s. Characters who were in the area that wore these is John "Rip" Ford, Capt. James H Tevis, and Mose Carson (Kit Carson's Brother).

When sewing what thread and needles are typically used in making buckskin clothing? I have sewn many items for Civil War time period but never buckskin. Here is an example of what I want to make:

John "Rip" Ford in 1858 as a Texas Ranger

Capt James H Tevis (although 1880s mentions wearing buckskin shirts in his memoirs of Arizona in the 1850s. I don't this he is wearing a buckskin shirt in this image).

No Known images of Mose Carson but here is Kit Carson's coat that is thought to be machine stitched form the 1850s (this could be a good template) http://www.historycolorado.org/content/kit-carsons-coat :

Thanks for your help.

 

[Doc Arroyo]

This one is sewn by hand with "Button Hole Twist" thread, a glover's needle and bees wax.

I kind of cobble mine together but I think we started with a Civil War short jacket pattern to get the back seams right. I do recommend cutting the sleeves with a bit of a curve, much more comfortable tan a straight sleeve.

If I have to do it over again, I would have fully faced the front of the coat, lapels and collar.

Hides stretch, so you may want to slightly stretch and nail them to a sheet of plywood prior to cutting out the pieces.

 

[arizona_brigade]

Nice picture. Thanks. So you basically used a coat pattern and modified it? Seems simple enough. How much does it stretch? So basically using your correct coat size would be the way to go. They don't shrink do they?

Got to say I am in love with this one but frock patterns are much harder to put together than say a sack coat pattern.

 

[BillinOregon]

Arizona, that last coat is really a stunner, even without the quillwork and embroidery. Let's see if our friend LaBonte sees this thread.
Oh how I would love to see someone with a museum-quality replication of Rip Ford's outfit in that photo, with that big old Hardee hat on his head and the twin holsters up front!

 

[Doc Arroyo]

The frock coat may actually be easier...depending on the size of your hides. Mine is braintanned deerhide. The hides are not all that big. the frock coat has a number of smaller pieces...back, sides, fronts, etc. If I had tried to cut the back sides and skirt out as one piece...that would have been a big hide. Now there is more sewing, but a glover's needle and braintan are pretty well made for each other.

I think Buckaroo Bobbins has a frock coat pattern...

When I stretch a hide I don't take all the stretch out. That way there is a bit of give after the garment is made. And yes, sometimes leather does shrink...

 

[arizona_brigade]

Yes here is another one that is quite nice form the same time period. It belonged to Issac Stevens who was Terr Gov of Washington Terr in late 1850s. When hostilities broke out he fought for the north as Col for a NY Regiment and was killed in 1862. This coat resides in the Washington State Historical Society http://stories.washingtonhistory.org/treatytrail/teaching/artifact-encounter.htm

A Little fancier than I'd do but I like the cut. That is why like the Rip Ford one.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

OK so some things to remember, and let me say you are on the right track..., however think too that these were popular in rather dry climates. In the wetter, more humid East, buckskin clothing was heavy, clingy, and cold when it was wet.

First, be sure you have a proper pattern. If you took say an 1808 frock coat meant for folks doing the War of 1812 as your pattern for an 1850 hunter, it simply won't "look right".

Next, make a cloth version first, out of the cheapest poly cotton cloth you can find at the fabric store. Test the fit, and then adjust your pattern as needed. Once you cut the leather you are committed, and if the pattern is too small in some places then you probably won't be able to correct it. Do a test first.

Then, remember that the patterns are often made with a 5/8th inch seam allowance, which is because they expect you to be using cloth. That's waaay too much for leather, and you will waste hide and have too much left over at the seams that will bunch up when you wear it. 1/4 or 3/8 inch allowance is often better.

Next, consider sewing in a welt between each main piece of the leather to reduce wear on the threads and to increase water resistance. Fringe at the seams are often from the use of a welt where the maker left an excess couple of inches of the leather in the welt, on the side where the fringe would be seen, and when the seam was finished the excess leather in the welt was then cut to form the fringe.

Finally, IF you choose to machine any of the seams instead of hand sewing with a glover's needle and artificial sinew, a wide machine stitch is often better than a fine stitch. The leather needle on most machine cuts the leather just as a glover's needle does, and if the holes in the machine stitching are too close..., you end up cutting the leather instead of sewing a seam.

LD

 

[codymobley]

Those fancier ones are Metis style and not appropriate if you're wanting to do Texas in the antebellum era. All of the ones I've looked at in Santa Fe and made for programs here in Texas are made basically 'on the square'(in shirt terms). THe body is a rectangle and the sleeves are rectangles tapered slightly to the wrist. Make sure to welt your seams with buckskin so they don't stretch too much when the buckskin gets wet. Here's some pics of one that I'm working on right now out of mule deer brain tan.

The pocket on this one is copied off of a watercolor done by Capt. Albert Lee of the 8th US Infantry in Texas in 1856.

This is the underside of the sleeve showing the piecing welted on to help with the taper.

Good Luck, and post pics!

 

[Black Hand]

hand sewing with a glover's needle and artificial sinew...

Please DO NOT use artificial sinew.

After all the effort to "get it right", artificial sinew would stick out like the proverbial "sore thumb". Waxed linen please!

 

[Rod Lassey]

I've got to agree with Black Hand---if you're going to go with braintan (and I very highly recommend that you do), use linen, hemp, or silk thread. Doesn't cost any more than artificial sinew, maybe less even, and if you're going to the time and effort to make a coat, do it right the first time.

Mine is very similar to Doc's, with a separate skirt. I was working with deer hides, so it was smaller pieces. Notice the Métis coats have long one-piece panels in front, and I'm betting they're either moose or elk.

For a somewhat cruder, but none the less very correct coat, take a look at Titian Peale's coat from 1819. It's pretty utilitarian, but it's also one of the few with a relatively early positive date.
http://nafsmokesignals.tripod.com/2011/may-jun11_issue/smokesignalpg2.htm

The sewing might seem kind of intimidating, but it actually goes fairly fast. One of the reasons for braintan, with a glover's needle it sews like cloth.

Rod

 

[arizona_brigade]

Well I appreciate all the info here. I thought about this a lot last night and I am thinking for my first buckskin project that I am going to probably make something along the line (like the poster above mentioned) a buckskin over-shirt first. The pattern is pretty straight forward.

Now if one wanted to add some trim, embroidery etc. or beaded trim does one bead this themselves or apply pre-beaded items? And along those line I am sure this was probably obtained in trade, where can you find stuff with real tribal bead patterns. Apacharia is my neck of the woods. I just don't want some random bead work that is of eastern tribal of just generic 21st century white man fabrication.

Once I am satisfied with this over-shirt I may move on to a coat. I just don't want to butcher big dollars on hide on my first attempt.

 

[Black Hand]

... buckskin over-shirt first. The pattern is pretty straight forward.

The only major difference between an overshirt (of perhaps questionable historicity depending on your time-period) and a coat is the cut down the front. I'd go with the coat myself.

Of course, the above is a bit of an over-simplification. However, your can document the coat...