Military Inspired Habit?

[lastbloom]

This is sort of a two fold question, and I debated where to post this...I hope this is the right spot!

First, I am wondering if velveteen was used, and if so, on what type of garments? I found some beautiful red 100% cotton velveteen that is fairly light with a nice hand, and desperately want to use it for something. There is also a bolt of dove grey.

Which leads to my second question...I'd really like to use it for a fabulous military inspired habit or redingote. I'm sure wool would have been the most usual fabric, but is the velveteen totally inappropriate? I'd never actually be wearing it on horseback

These are a pair of images from the late 18th c. Are there any patterns that are similar out there? I have an image of a later period redingote in my mind, but can't seem to find an extant garment or plate to match.

images-mediawiki-sites.thefullwiki.org/02/4/1/5/67666302342022566.jpg

rpmedia.ask.com/ts?u=/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/6f/Ladyworsley.jpg/72px-Ladyworsley.jpg

Here's one described as "a la hussar", from 1817, but I find it too precious and I'm sure it would be overwhelming in red...I'd prefer something a bit more masculine, with less trimming on the skirt:

ookaboo.com/o/pictures/picture/13515986/Redingote_%C3%A0_la_Hussar_1817

Similar:

www.georgianindex.net/Reticule/pelisseret.jpg

And extant:

25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l4dt6xmtS11qbkn6io1_500.jpg

[dawnluckham]

Yes, they had cotton velvet – what we’d call velveteen. It shows up in written descriptions and such and often in menswear.

The fact that it shows up in menswear might be a good indicator that it’s suitable for a habit. I can’t off the top of my head recall specifically any extent cotton velvet habits, but I never like to say never. They definitely had the fabric and to my thoughts it’s suitable for a habit. There are extent cotton velvet spencers.

I’d suggest the grey for a habit. Red for something more dressy like a pelisse/redingote or a spencer.

[lastbloom]

Thanks, Dawn! That is an excellent thought about the menswear. Was it used for coats, or just as an accent (collar, cuffs, etc)?

...I might just have to buy it in both colors...oh darn.

[lastbloom]

This isn't a period plate, but it is very close to what I was picturing.

www.lesleyannemcleod.com/images/barbosa/riding_habit.jpg

(edit -- found the plate this was clearly based on: 1.bp.blogspot.com/_b656s4M5Zqg/S80PucG4THI/AAAAAAAAA9E/19u80QH6n_c/s1600/1812ridinghabit.jpg)

Thoughts? I'm wondering what would have been used for the trim.

[dawnluckham]

Military braid or lace: Russian braid (sometimes called soutache), galloon, gimp.

There is a really beautiful velvet spencer in the DAR museum. This decorative element is done in long narrow tubes of twilled silk. (Similar to what we might call “spaghetti straps” in modern clothing) It’s almost the same colour as the spencer, but the differences in the fabrics and the way light bounces on the velvet vs. the twilled silk is really interesting.

That would be a really arresting habit!!! I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

[dawnluckham]

I forgot to answer your question about where velveteen was used. I know I’ve seen it documented for breeches. It was considered “hard-wearing” (another reason it might be good for a habit).

I’ve seen a cotton velvet suit, but the velvet had a woven pattern in it – it was a little more fancy than what we’d think of – our velveteen tends to be plain unless it’s upholstery fabric. This suit actually looked like it had been made from some of our modern upholstery fabric, with the exception of the suit’s lighter fabric weight.

I’m sure you could use velvet as an accent. The spencer I was referring to at the DAR used the velvet as the base and the silk twill as the accent.

I can’t remember seeing an extent men’s wool coat with a velvet collar and cuffs. It absolutely doesn’t mean it wasn’t done. It just means I can’t remember seeing one. (I tend to think of this type of velvet accenting as “Romantic era” or Victorian – but I absolutely could just “have this in my head” and there may be tons of evidence that this was also done in the Regency.) I see the velvet collars done on Regency re-enactors clothing all the time. Perhaps some of the men’s-wear researchers on this board want to weigh in on this. Has anyone seen a men’s Regency era coat with a velvet collar?

[lastbloom]

Thanks Dawn! As always, you are a wonderful font of information! Are photos available of the DAR spencer online? I checked their museum site but didn't see it.

In case anyone else is curious about using this kind of trim, I found a tutorial from Threads on how to make loops.

www.threadsmagazine.com/item/10558/how-to-make-loops-in-soutache-braid

[dawnluckham]

I looked for it on line for you but couldn't find it either. It's purple. It's shown in some detail in the Martha Pullen DAR Museum book.

www.marthapullen.com/books/dar/index.html

[lastbloom]

What a great book! I didn't know about it. Thanks for suggesting it!