Category: Federal Enlisted Frock Coat

Finishing the Sleeves

Turn the sleeves so they are laying wrong side up on the table. Trim the seam allowance from the seam that is holding the facing to the sleeve as shown. This will allow the facing to turn with as little bulk as possible.

Baste in a piece of linen about 5 inches long by 2 inches wide. This should be inserted next to the strip of vent piping, and will give additional strength to the buttonhole area.

Turn and baste the sleeve facing over, basting along the front edge, and up along the extension on the side. Press well.

Trim a very slight amount – no more than a quarter inch – away from the edge of the facing directly above the vent piping. Fell down the vent to the piping, making sure the machine stitching holding the piping down is completely covered in the process.

On the other end, the edge is trimmed if necessary to make everything flush, and then stitched closed through all layers using buttonhole twist and and a buttonhole stitch for strength.

Turning to the wrong side of the sleeve again, cross stitch the inner edge of the facing to the sleeves, being sure to not pull the stitches too tightly. If you do, a fold of fabric will be visible on the right side of the finished sleeve – something that you want to avoid.

Now is the time to add two buttonholes to each cuff, on the piped side of the sleeve. Both buttonholes should be a half inch from the edge. The lower buttonhole is centered between the piping and the bottom of the sleeve, while the upper buttonhole is placed just high enough to avoid running into the piping of the chevron by about half an inch. Work the buttonholes as described in the buttonhole module. The lower buttonhole can be tricky a first, as it has to go through three layers of wool plus the linen layer. If you have to, pass the needle all the way through the hole first to make things slightly easier. With experience, you’ll find this is not necessary though.

After all that work, the sleeve cuff is finally done.

Line up the rear seams of each sleeve, right sides together. Baste and sew from the top of the seam, to just 1⁄4 inch beyond the edge of the sleeve inlay, as shown. Press well, using a sleeve roll or tailors ham inserted into the sleeve. This is sometimes tricky to press correctly due to the nature of the curved sleeves.

Vent Piping

Now we come to one of the trickiest places to sew on the entire coat. First chalk a line 3/8 inches away from the edge of the sleeve, on the chevron side.

Baste a 5 inch long piece of piping onto the sleeve at this point, lining the folded edge up flush with the chalk line.

Sew a 1⁄4 inch seam, counting from the edge of the sleeve, not the piping. It’s very difficult to sew over the point where the two pipings meet, being about 7 layers thick. Be sure you are using a size 100 needle for this. Once you get over that spot, it gets easier again.

On the wrong side, trim back the sleeve over the piping a little, tapering back out to it’s original width at the end of the piping. Do the same with the middle layer of piping.

This small strip of piping needs to be pressed to the underside of the sleeve now. Due to all the layers, this can take a few tries. Press from both sides to set the stitches well, then fold the piping under, and press well with a heavy weight if you have one. You’ll still end up with a slight bump no matter how well you press, but these are present on originals as well.

Cuff Facings

Place the sleeve face down on the cloth, making sure the grain is aligned. Draw a construction line if necessary to get a good alignment. Trace around the bottom, and the sides to just where the piping stitch line is.

For me, this happens to be two inches high. Draw a line indicating the top of the facing at this level, all the way across. When you get to the right side, strike upwards for 3 inches, two inches from the edge. Then close the top of the facing. Make the corners round, as shown. The height of this side extension piece should be equal to the inlay on the other side.

Cut out both facings, and check for fit if desired.

Turn the sleeve wrong side up. At the bottom of the cuff, mark a line 3/8” from the edge, all the way across.

Trim only the top layer, which is the sleeve layer itself. The cuff beneath is untouched by the scissors.

Place the cuff piece, right sides together, onto the sleeve, being sure that the side with the extension is on the same side as the chevron. Baste together along the bottom edge.

Sew a quarter inch seam, sewing the facing to the cuff piece. The sleeve itself should just miss these stitches by 1/8 of an inch.

Assembling the Cuffs

Place the cuff on top of the sleeve, with right sides of both facing up. The chevron should be on the opposite side as the inlay on the sleeve. Baste along the bottom, keeping 1⁄2 inch away from the edge.

Continue basting along the top edge of the cuff, just behind the piping. Try to get as close to the edge as you can without actually catching the strip of piping that’s showing.

Here comes the tedious part, more side stitching! Using 10 – 12 stitches per inch, side stitch the piping to the sleeve, using the same method as the collar. If you need to save time, you can use a machine and zipper foot, but I find the side stitching gives superior results.

Here’s a photo of the underside after the side stitching. All you see are little pinpricks from the stitches, securely holding the piping in place.

Cuff Piping

Dealing with the point of the chevron needs some special consideration. First, you must trim off the piping, using an angled cut. The narrow end near the tip should be about 1/8 inch away from the stitching.

Press the cuff well from each side to set the stitches. I then like to press the piping over on both sides of the tip, saving the tip for last. The process is the same as for the collar.

To press the point, I like to turn the cuff over so that the right side is up, and roll the piping at the tip under with a finger. This is followed directly behind by the iron, keeping the tension so that the piping stays underneath. Don’t worry if it takes a few tries, you’ll get it soon enough.

Constructing the Cuffs

You’ll need two pieces of bias piping, made in exactly the same way as the collar. Again, these are 1 1⁄4 inch wide by about 20 inches long. The length depends on the size of your individual chevron shape. You’ll also need two smaller pieces of piping 5 inches long, but these can usually be obtained from the scraps after you’ve piped the chevron area. Press the piping in half lengthwise, and proceed.

Baste the piping to the chevron, with the folded edge of the piping facing inward. When you get to the point, measure exactly 1⁄2 an inch from the edge of the other side of the chevron, and mark that point in chalk.

Draw a chalk line square across the piping corresponding with that mark. Note how it’s cutting right across the piping, not at all aligned with the other half of the chevron.

Trim along this line carefully, to within 3/16″ of the folded edge. Don’t go any closer or you’ll have a gap or cut edge showing in your finished piping. Any wider and it will be hard to get the piping around the tight corner.

Continue basting the piping down until you get to the other edge. Leave about a one inch tail on either end.

Machine stitch or backstitch the piping to the cuffs with a half inch seam allowance, letting 1/8″ of piping show on the other side of the stitching.

At the point, try to make the stitch line turn with a small radius. It’s not perfectly square, but it’s not a huge arc, either. If you mess this up, unpick the stitches and try again.

Remove the basting stitches and trim away the coat fabric as you did for the collar. Try to get as close to the stitches as possible – 1/8″ is good.

Trim the middle layer of piping as well, staggering the layers.

Drafting the Cuff

We’ll use the sleeve itself as a template for drafting the cuff, as using the paper gets complicated when dealing with the seam allowances that are present there. I like to draft the cuff directly on the cloth, simply because it’s less time consuming to do, and there is less room for error.

Note that all of these measurements are based on the original coats and photographs I’ve been able to look at. They can be altered as necessary to match the particular coats you are reproducing.

First draw a line crosswise on your fabric so that you have a base to work from. Place the sleeve down so that the ends are touching this line, and the vent inlay is to the right.

Trace around the bottom of the sleeve, and about 5 graduated inches up either side. You can draw further up if you wish to better see how the sleeve looks when drawing the cuff design.

Extend the center seam line down to the baseline, and lift up the sleeve. After removing the sleeve, you can continue this line straight up for another five inches or so to give more visual aid (This is that line in the middle for more clarity).

Measure 3 inches up on either side, as well as the center line. This will mark the top of the piping line, seam allowances included.

On the cuff line, between the left seam and the center seam, mark the midpoint of the line.

Note: it’s not pictured here, but in drawing this next line, move the starting point (that you just marked) 1/4″ towards the center, to account for the seam allowance, so that the chevron doesn’t appear off center. I photographed it below but somehow forgot to include it in the drafting instructions.

Draw a line at about 90 degrees from the midpoint. It’s actually slightly closer to the center seam line, so it’s not exactly 90 degrees. If you do leave it at exactly 90 degrees, you’ll find the point of the chevron falls too close to the vent opening. The line should be about 7 graduated inches long.

On the left side, lightly chalk the seam allowance, as a visual aid. This is not a cutting line.

On the midpoint line, mark a line, at 6 inches, that is 1 inch wide, centered on the line. Do the same at 5”, but make it 2 inches, centered. This gives us a guide to help make both halves of the chevron identical.

Draw the actual chevron and cuff shape, starting from the left. The curve does not actually start until just after the seam allowance marker. Try to make the curve meet both of the horizontal construction lines, but if it’s not exact, that’s okay. Just try to make it look nice. After hitting the point, come down on the other side, matching the first half of the chevron. The line continues through the middle seam, and arcs upward slightly to match the curve of the cuff. The line ends at the right side at the edge of the inlay.

Cut out this whole piece on the doubled cloth, which should be the same size as the sleeve on the sides and bottom.

Front Seam

After you are happy with the fit of your sleeves, you can cut them out of the wool. Make sure the grain lines are aligned properly, as well as the direction of the nap.

The first step is to baste together the front seam, with right sides
together.

Sew the seam, and press open well, using a seam roll.

Sleeve Seam Allowances and Inlays

The sleeves should have already been drafted and fit when making your original frock coat pattern and should look something like this.

You should now add 1⁄4 inch seam allowances around the entire sleeve, on both over and under sleeves. At the rear seam of the under sleeve, near the cuff, an inlay must be added. I generally make mine 1 inch wider than the seam allowance, and 5 graduated inches long. At the left edge of the inlay, spring out about a quarter of an inch total.

The Buttonhole Stitch

A proper buttonhole should be made with silk buttonhole twist. The twist is thicker than normal thread, and will aid in the formation of the purls. I’ve seen two sizes generally available. Size F is very thick, although that makes it easier to work with. Gutermann makes a thinner buttonhole twist which is closer to original buttonholes I have seen. Being thinner makes it harder to work with, however.

Cut a length about one yard long for a one inch buttonhole. Wax and press the thread, and knot one end. Holding the edge of the coat with the buttonholes away from you, insert the needle between the layers of wool, at the left bottom edge of the buttonhole. This will allow you to hide the knot inside. Poke the needle out 1/16 to 1/8 away from the edge, but do not take it out completely at this time. The length of the buttonhole stitch depends entirely on the fabric used. Each coat will be different, so you really need to experiment. If the thread is too close to the edge, it can pull out, especially on easily-frayed fabrics. If it is too far from the edge, you will see puckering and have a generally messy buttonhole.

With the needle still poking out of the wool, take the doubled threads that come from the eye of the needle, and pass them under the needle to the left, forming a loop. Then draw up the thread so that there is about a ¼ inch of slack in the stitch.

At this time, insert the buttonhole gimp between the threads, so that it lays on top of the fabric. If using four-cord, the knotted end should be placed away from you. Draw the stitch firm, moving the thread side to side to lock the stitches. The stitches need to be firm, but not tight. By forming the stitch in this manner, you create a double purl, rather than the single purl commonly done by home sewers. The benefit of this is a stronger stitch, and one that will stay in place longer, even if a stitch happens to break someday.

The purl should be placed either directly on top of the gimp, or slightly to the inner edge. The first method raised the stitches, giving a very firm buttonhole. The latter makes the buttonhole a bit softer, with a lower profile. Again, experiment and see which you like best.

Continue working each stitch in the same manner across the lower edge of the buttonhole, making sure they are spaced evenly both in depth and proximity. Each stitch needs to be taken over the gimp, holding it in place. The spacing between stitches should be close enough that the purls touch, but not so tight that they interfere with each other.

After you’ve made about five stitches, carefully pull the gimp so that the end lies flush with the first stitch of the buttonhole.

When you get to the tear-dropped area, the purls need to gradually be placed directly on top of the gimp, to make room for more stitches in the tightly curved area. The stitches can also be made slightly deeper, if desired.

Continue on to the upper half of the buttonhole, turning the coat as you work. Make sure that the stitches are made similarly to the lower half, as it’s easy to space them slightly differently if you aren’t careful. When you get to the second to last stitch, carefully trim the gimp flush, then make one last stitch.

Bar Tack

Bring the thread up as if you were going to make another stitch, but instead, make a bar tack across the end. This is done by taking three stitches across the end of the buttonhole. These should be the same width as the buttonhole, or slightly smaller, for a neat appearance. Bring the thread out to the right side as if you were going to make a fourth stitch, but instead, insert the needle under the three stitches, wrapping the thread around. This should be done across the entire length of the bartack, and if desired, you can make a single perl for each by bringing the single end of the thread under the needle, as per a blanket stitch.

Finishing

Pass the thread to the bottom, and insert the needle underneath the buttonhole stitches three times in alternating directions. This will finish the buttonhole without unsightly knots or stitches.

Basting Closed

At this point, the buttonhole is completed and should be basted closed to prevent it opening or stretching out of shape during the final pressing. All other prior basting stitches can be removed, however.

Here is the part of the video series, covering the buttonhole stitch itself.