Buckskin Scout Vest

[BrushyCreekDouglas]

So I'd like to try and make a vest, it will be my first time making anything garment related. Would any of you folks be able to give me some insight into making this, selecting/sourcing material, etc? Any advice would be much appreciated.


Thanks guys!

[1961MJS]

Hi
I know little or nothing about sewing, BUT I did buy cotton canvas for a great coat.  If you wait until after Xmas it would be less expensive.  Sign up at Joanne Fabric, or another fabric store so you get a regular (sometimes hourly) email on sales. 
Later

[River City John]

So I'd like to try and make a vest, it will be my first time making anything garment related. Would any of you folks be able to give me some insight into making this, selecting/sourcing material, etc? Any advice would be much appreciated.


Thanks guys!

[LongWalker]

Unfortunately, this vest is a more than a bit of a pain to make. 

Clothing fit was different in 1871.  Clothing was either what we would call "ready to wear" (pre-made in standard sizes and worn as is), "made to measure" (made using a standard pattern but using a few measurements to better-fit the wearer), or "tailored" (made using a pattern drafted up to the customer's particular measurements, or what the Brits would call "bespoke").  In general, pants had a higher rise; the vests were shorter to meet/overlap the waistline of the pants, and a lot more.   

This outfit including the vest is mostly not in the usual style of a Euro-american outfit ca. 1871: the patterns appear to have been based off a Southwest-style (vaquero) style.  "Spanish" clothing was popular in the west at the time: when Cody joined the "Dandy Fifth", and later fought/killed/scalped Yellow Hair, he was reportedly wearing an Eastern version of this style (bright red firemans shirt, black velvet pants trimmed with scarlet and covered with fancy embroidery and silver bells).  (Yes, some soldiers encamped at Cheyenne where he signed up laughed at his garments.)

This makes it harder to do a copy, both because the conventions were different and because there is no easily-available pattern from which to start.  For the vest to appear "right", it needs pants made in the same general style, and is best with a jacket to match.  A vest of such a cut and construction wasn't typically worn with "regular" clothes. 

I strongly suspect the lady who made it initially used an existing garment as a pattern (tear out the seams to the biggest pieces that lay flat, and there's your pattern), and that the vest was made using a second or third generation pattern: tear apart the garment for a pattern (gen 1), modify the gen 1 pattern to fit someone else (gen 2), modify the gen 2 pattern to fit another person (gen 3). 

There were some compromises made in the construction where materials differed from the original.  This creates a situation where when you go to modify the pattern to make a copy that fits someone else, you have to make further compromises (and a few guesses if you don't have experience making fitted garments).  And when Hanson drew up this pattern, he was working from the garment without being able to take a seam-ripper to it to lay the pieces flat (museums frown on that).

Then let's factor in that, generally speaking, vests are amongst the most-difficult of men's garments to make.  And it has not 1, not 2, but 3 of those dang welt pockets. . . .   I hate sewing welt pockets.  And it has quillwork, despite being made at a time and place where beads for beadwork were easily available (and probably more common).  Quillwork is harder to learn, and to do well.  River City John posted pics of some beaded vests, probably made slightly later.  (Thanks RCJ!)

All that blather is a long way of asking, "Are you sure you want to do this?"  There are a number of generally-similar vests out there, made in the same general time period, by the same general makers.  The Aricara's seem to have had a thriving souvenir-garment business, and traded them with other tribes too.  (One of the nice things about this one is that it can be documented as to 1) where it was made, and 2) specifically for whom it was made.)  Similar vests were also made with a Euro-american cut--I've even seen one that was made using a pattern from an issue WBTS vest. 

If you really want to copy this particular vest, and don't want to start with the easier pieces in the outfit, the basic materials aren't that hard to source.

Crazy Crow "german tan" buckskin will work fine if you can't source/don't want to pay for braintan buckskin.  Try to get the heavier hides for this (sometimes you can pick up some German tan buffalo that is perfect).  Crazy Crow will have porcupine quills as well: the pre-dyed ones they sell are about right, as by the time this vest was made commercial dyes were available in the trade.

Polished cotton for the back and lining is most-easily sourced from upholstery-supply companies; you want something about 6-ish ounces and do NOT pre-wash it to shrink the fabric (you'll lose the "polish").  Not pre-shrinking the cotton fabric is a major departure from the usual practice, but if you are going to pay for polished cotton why lose the polish?

Silk thread for sewing (and the quillwork, IIRC) is available from fabric stores/Amazon/ebay etc.  Buttons can be sourced from several different suppliers to the Civil War re-enactor crowd. 

(All this is a long way of saying, "Yeah, I made a copy of the outfit.  But I had notes/measurements/photos that the FS&BHS doesn't provide. . . and I later made a modified copy to fit the guy for whom I made the first copy.  And I ain't a-gonna do that again!  But I'll watch and kibbitz from the sidelines.  . . . "

If you decide to go with a copy of this one, start by drafting a full-size pattern of Hanson's original drawings.  From there if you get some measurements of yourself wearing the garments you want to wear this with, we can pitch in and help you s ale the pattern to fit you.  Expect to have several successive iterations of cloth "draft garments" before you ever cut leather. 

Don't bother with the pockets before you get it to the final draft.  Welt pockets are a pain. 

[BrushyCreekDouglas]

LongWalker

The picture was merely the sort of vest I had in mind. Don't plan on copying it exactly, I planned on doing exterior pockets for example.

Thank you for the comprehensive overlook! Fascinating to learn about the differences in clothing and what not.

[LongWalker]

MUCH easier then!!!

Do you know what size dress shirt you wear, or your neck/chest measurements and height?  I can try to figure out which pattern would be easiest for you.