So say I.
What ignorance has been the cause of such torment? you may ask. Of course, maybe you didn't ask it, but I'm asking it for you. Anyway.
The answer to that question that you may or may not have asked is, "Ignorance about tailoring."
People who know me know that I love to sew. I have been sewing since the age of 8, which means that I have ...er... plenty of experience. Clothes, historical costumes, fantasy costumes, you name it - I have probably tackled it.
For girls, that is. When it comes to the world of stitchery, I am skilled in clothing the female form. I know how to make any pattern fit any body type (within reason) of the fair sex. My level of ability has led me to believe that I am more than competent in most regions of clothes-making. So, when a friend asked me to make him - note, him - a late-Victorian tailcoat, I thought, "How hard could it be?"
Foolish, foolish child that I am.
My first dose of reality hit when I started searching for a pattern. As a sensible seamstress, I first sought my quarry in the large pattern companies - McCall's, Simplicity, Butterick all have respectable costume collections, and have even begun paying attention to historical accuracy (le gasp!). It made sense to me that, among them, they would produce a pattern or two that I could tweak. However, as I continued hunting, a horrible fact came to light: there was no pattern to be found. Apparently, though any one of these great conglomerates had myriad patterns from EVERY SINGLE ERA for women, nary a one could offer one single example of men's formal wear from 1850 to 1900. Nor could I unearth a pattern for a regular tailed tuxedo.
This should have been a clue. But, no - I tossed aside the monopolies and cast my lot in among the "historical" pattern companies.
Before I go further, let me clarify something. "Victorian tailcoat" does not - in this case - refer to a quintessential Dickensian look. I was given specific directions to avoid the Scrooge/Cratchit silhouette. So, not this:
Which is a shame, because those actually exist. Instead, what I was going for was this:
Which - I eventually found - also exist, but are not mass-produced.
Finally, after weeks (I kid you not) of searching, I finally found one - the pattern connected to the above image, in fact. According to some reviews the pattern was relatively user-friendly and easy to alter. So, I purchased it and awaited its arrival via our good ol' USPS.
Did I say "user-friendly"? Ha! Imagine my consternation when I - not a men's tailor - opened up the package to read this disclaimer - by the pattern-maker - on the instructions: "I am not a professional seamstress."
As Elan would say, "Dun, dun, DUN!"
to be continued...
