Something New in Menswear (For me, at least)

 

During my last trip to Tombstone, I decided to try something different with my new suit- French cuffs! Yes, French cuffs! Essentially, French cuffs require dedicated cufflinks and they can only really be worn buttoned up- no casual unbuttoning the cuffs and rolling them up and because of this, they have become out of favor with the today’s more casual styles. However, in the late 19th Century, they were more of a thing. Just a little backstory, I ordered two shirts from a fairly well-known maker and somehow my order got confused and when I received them (after almost 18 months), I discovered that they’d been made with French cuffs. Initially, I just put them at the back of the closet and forgot about them…but later, I rediscovered them while re-arranging my closet and I got the idea of finally wearing them.

Don’t mind the stray thread!

Attaching the cufflink can be somewhat challenging in that you have to work it through four thick layers of fabric… 😁

Don’t mind the stray thread there… 🙂

The inside of the cufflink. It’s a pretty simple design. And the actual cufflinks:

Unlike more modern versions, earlier cufflinks tended to have a more simple design for attachment. This is a pair of very simple vintage 1890s cufflinks that I got off ebay:

I like simple designs. Here’s a view of the short-front:

It turned out that I also needed button studs for the front- thankfully, I had some that I usually use when I wear my tails. 😁 And now, the final package:


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New For 2022!

First job finished in 2022, a silk brocade smoking jacket for Adam…perfect gentleman’s wear for the parlor at No.11 in Tombstone. 😁

The fabric is a wonderful silk brocade that we bought on our trip to England last October.

Here’s some more construction pictures:


In Progress

One of our latest projects is a men’s smoking jacket. These were loose-fitting lounge jackets that were intended for wear at home, often while smoking (hence the name). Depending on cut, these were a looser-fitting version of the conventional sack coat (although often they looked more like glorified bathrobes). Below are a few progress pictures:

Sewing in the front pockets:

Finished exterior- front right piece.

Pad-stitching and taping the canvases on the left front piece:

And then the right front piece:

There’s definitely a lot of hand-stitching going on there. Just the pad stitching and taping alone took four days…but the end result will be worth it. Stay tuned for more! 😁



More From The Quantocks

In this post, we focus more on the men’s side of things during our stay in the Quantock Hills in West England. Men’s wear of the late 19th Century is a continual area of interest for us and judging from our blog stats, it also appears to also be of interest to our readers so in today’s post we’ll focus here a bit (sorry ladies!).

In the main hall…

The sack suit was in many ways the “default” outfit for men to wear when they weren’t engaged in some sort of specialized activity. In the above picture I am wearing a sack suit typical of the 1880s and 90s. Here’s some more views:

Strolling about the grounds with Karin.

Next, for a hike that I went on, I switched out the trousers for more sturdy breeches, ankle boots, and leather leggings. Although the breeches were originally intended for riding, they also work well as part of an outdoor outfit.

Adam in the moors in the Quantock Hills. © Time-Light Photographic

And another one in the Quantock Hills. © Time-Light Photographic

For the sharp-eyed amongst you,  you’ll notice that I am not wearing a collar or tie- that was deliberate since I was looking a long hike and the collar tends to become tight on my neck after time so I opted for comfort. 😄 Here’s a few more from the hike:

© Time-Light Photographic

© Time-Light Photographic

The view was marvelous and the weather was perfect. The only other thing I wished I had been able to do here was to go on a long trail ride by horse- that would have really been fun. Oh well, maybe next time… 😎