1800's British Uniform - Upgrade

Lady Catherine, the dress form, has once again graciously allowed me to put men's clothing on her. This time, it was for the 'upgraded' 1800's British Uniform. 

Remember this project?

It served its purpose well enough, but we (my brother and I) expected more from the basic red coat. It needed to something more. It needed... an upgrade.

(Sorry for the rather... geeky reference. It's all that I could think of. :P)

So to the dark corners of the interwebz I went. Do you know how hard it is to find resources and supplies for British military uniforms here in the States? But I found enough pictures, illustrations, and what-not to give me the information I needed. All of that turned into this:

Ta-da! Okay, it's not much, but it makes a difference, doesn't it? ;) 

All I did was:

- Add white piping to the front. Suddenly it became much more distinct. 

- Add piping and buttons to the back

- Extend the sleeves 3" by using the same black fabric as the collar (yay for fabric hoarding!)

- Add some gold couching to the cuff. Man, that is a beast of a project, but the results are very worth the effort.

- Add a stiff layer to behind the collar so that it doesn't flop over from the weight of the couching and buttons. You should have seen the looks on people as I worked on it in the lobby of the chiropractor's office. 'What are you making? That's something you don't see very day!' 

- Actually make button holes on... whatever that thing is called.The strappy dude that hold the other thing in place so that it doesn't slide down your shoulder. :P Part of me wants to call it a lapel.   

I will say, I'm rather excited with how it all turned out. ^_^ 

Here's my brother with one of the guests at the Civil War Ball that we attended. 

Until next time!

SG