Boys Suit, 1780ish
Well, after much debate and mental blocks, I managed this almost done. Partly due to my seamstress block, general boredom and regular project apathy but also because of the color. I know historically there is a huge amount of pastel colored men's suits and more than enough acceptance in the general community for me to dress my son in pale shell pink, but... My son is autistic. If he were in full control of his faculties, I could explain how cruel the world is, and he would understand that loving pink and orange is perfectly normal but people might tease him. As it is, I have to continually have him repeat "Pink is nongendered, its a COLOR" when he tells me kids tell him its a girls color.
I didn't want to cause even further issues and confusion and the idea of someone teasing my clueless son both hurts and enrages me. But, after weeks of being dissatisfied with fabric I was looking at I found this at Hobby Lobby and it stuck. Of course this is SUCH a strange, soft shell pink that it matches NOTHING. So I just kept it simple, no embroidery or lace or anything. The buttons are covered using the lining fabric which gives it a nice contrast.
I used two Burda patterns. Strangely, I find Burda give such a good finished look of historical accuracy although technically the instructions would not pass scrutiny. I used the coat from the pirate pattern and the breeches from the Mozart one.
Of course, niether of these patterns was able to give me the silhuette I wanted and so I reviewed some histoical patterns.
I used the above images the most in a vague way possible as allowed by the pattern itself, my fabric and the size of my son.
The vest and breeches I cut from a kimono I bought an indeterminable time ago from goodwill with this lovely embroidery in patches on the front and a huge embroidered pagoda thing on the back. The pink is not an exact match to the coat, but so close. The opalescent sheen of the soft kimono silk echos the shimmery decoration on the coat pretty well I think, and the metallic embroidery in the flowers I matched in the buttons on the waistcoat.
Breeches
Made out of two layers the cut directly from the kimono so embroidered kimono and the kimono silk lining. The largest size was still too small for the chunker that is my son. Why is the sizes for boys either young child of 6 and then suddenly teenager? Anyway, I cut a long strip like a tuxedo pant on each side and manage to snap up another bit of the embroidery,
Waistcoat
Again using the kimono, two of the best bits of embroidery on each side. The back is the white thick cotton I upcycled from tablecloths and the caramel silk poly satin. The sides are both of those, plus the kimono silk, silk lining and a padding of linen to stabilize the buttons. Ugh, the buttons. I will be safe from sweatshop work in the bound buttonhole department.
The Frock Coat
I followed the instructions on sewing the coat together. Three layers, cotton fashion layer, thickish white cotton thrifted tablecloth and a stiff caramel poly satin. I did a single pleat at the two sides and back. and whip stitched them down. As proof of my diligence to this frock coat I actually IRONED it before it was done, like three times.
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