madPete

Except for the pockets, a sleeveless waistcoat goes pretty quick. I looked back on the building photos of the coat, and you may want to cut the arm openings slightly larger if it feels wonky. Otherwise that is a cheap and dirty way to get a waistcoat. I have a blue wool sailors coat and a linen buccaneer jacket that I selectively carry depending on event. My usual wear is a sleeveless waistcoat, so the sailors coats are rarely worn unless I rangle a cruise on the ocean. But I'm in Arizona so, your needs are likely different. I'm making the wool cloak for serious warmth, and it may double as my sleeping blanket, which means I need to get cracking on it again. Life is kinda messed up right now with parents in and out of the hospital, so I've not had much chance to work projects.

I can see three drunk pirates all reaching for the rum at the same time! (and two without fingers)

more bang for the buck!

Reconstructing History RH704 is a versatile pattern. I believe it has instructions for short sailor waistcoat, long waistcoat and sleeved waistcoats. I think she's in Europe now, but when I ordered last time it arrived quickly. There are some resellers too, might even find on eBay. https://reconstructinghistory.com/products/rh704-1700s-1730s-waistcoats

I see where you're going with that and it does look very close to that original. I now understand why you were thinking about refinish. You have a good extant example to pull from so the skys the limit.

well, remember... It's not been used yet. a couple overnights and its gonna look the part.

I'm roughly basing it on a simplicity pattern. It's just big triangles, but needed the neck shape. The outer body and lining body are each sewn up, just need to tie them together with the cape and a collar.

I put rope handles on all my boxes. After helping carry someone elses box with too small, steel handles that pinched fingers, I said never again. 2 holes with the rope knotted on the inside. Look at sailor chests online, there are other period ways to do this, but rope is easy and comfortable on the hands. Just make sure it extends above the lid with enough room for the hands, or it crushes your hands against the side of the box if theres a lot of weight. A Balemark? I can bring the Mercury block to the event... "- a fabric lining, to both help keep my clothes from snagging but also to cover up the scratches on the inside that I can't help but think they are finger nail marks 🤨" EEGADS, someone was locked in your trunk???!?? hmmmpf... damn... hmmmphhphh... pyra... tes...

Thanks! I just realized I still have no carving knives. William was looking into one for me, but I guess I need to get after that! The more I think about these things, the more I have yet to do. Like executing some recipes and sampling them before the next event. The bedroll was something I had been thinking about for a while. When William said, lets show them our crew coming in with our kit on our backs, I had to make it. But this ole back needs some cush, thus the self inflating mattress. Its really just a cover for the mattress, but at least it hides the modern stuff. Either a wool blanket or the cloak on top and a linen bag stuffed with clothes for a pillow.

oooh, a couple more cooking utensils arrived, a label, strainer, and fork. This is probably it for the big stuff, so I may have to make a trip to tandy to look for some leather to make the utensil roll.

Ok, made some progress on the watchman cloak this morning. Advice is, find the widest material you can. I started with 5 yards (YES 5 YARDS) 60 inches wide of a charcoal (mixed black and white) suit weight wool. I made one of these for my youngest with just slightly heavier wool and cotton flannel blackwatch (green and black) lining. And it seems plenty warm and reduces the weight somewhat (warm enough for Arizona so take that with a grain of salt). The plan is for long cloak (mid calf or ankle) with a shoulder cape and lining. I would plan no less than 5 1/2 yards of 60inch wide. Having said that wool is not inexpensive. I found somewhat of a deal on 5 yards already cut that came in 2 pieces. But a full on coating weight wool is gonna be at least $20 a yard and maybe closed to 35-40 depending what you choose. And dont forget, you need only slightly less for the lining. I chose a heavy window pane linen bought from Joanns online. So a significant investment! If you want to do a cloak that goes half circle, you will have to piece it at least minimally. There are several ways to do it, but I chose to extend the corners at the bottom, like wings. I figured it would be less distracting and use smaller pieces than a horizontal seam halfway down the cape. As it was, I scrimping for fabric already. I would like to have used one large piece instead of two smaller pieces but wasn't sure I could do that. If I make another I will get an extra half yard to make it happen. With the shoulder cape and the half circle, it has pretty much used up that 5 yards. Altho the material has no pattern, there is definately a grain. The outside (rightside) grain is vertical, inside is horizontal. so if you have a patterned material you may need more to match seams. I'm doing the seams by machine. Its a lot of yardage to hand sew and I did the shoulder cape mostly by hand, especially the hemmed edges and front. I'll do likewise hemming the bottom and front edge of the main body by hand. First photo is a rough example of the target - a men's watchman cloak. I was surprised how many originals I found that were red (mostly later 18th century tho) Next photos are the shoulder cape, the overall size and the pieces (or wings) I used to extend it.

Personally I would just accomplish whatever repairs it needs, maybe strengthen the corners if needed. The outside looks rustic which is good. As you have time you can put a new lining or embellish as desired.

bububuuuuut... I thought you were French! Oh well, that explains a few things about hte auction LOL

For those needing shoes... on the facebook forum "Authentic Pirate Living History 1690-1730" this popped up...

So are ye bringing a company or a battalion? 😁

A tumpline is a great idea, didn't think of that. The forged utensils I have so far are fairly light, gonna skip the tripod. We already have to coordinate with some one to bring the bigger stuff, like a pot. I supposes we could always makeshift a wooden one on site

Here's the breeches. Still need buttons/buttonholes, leg bands and possibly more adjustment in the rear

I've been working on kit the last month or so, but been pretty lazy about taking pictures of progress: - Made a bedroll I can throw down at the barracks or ?. Its mostly done save for some leather straps to secure the roll and maybe also to sling over the shoulder. Its basically an attempt to disguise my inflatable mattress inside a linen mattress cover. Add a wool blanket, leather strap and wallah! Between this and my hammock I should finally be covered. - Started a pair of period linen breeches. They are getting close, but still adjusting the pattern to make the fit comfortable. - Collecting/Building a traveling cook implement kit. Flying in and cooking period food in a period setting with period tools is a bit daunting at best, so we've made some compromises. It starts with having the basic implements in forged iron for camp. Will have to rely on somebody bringing cooking pots as that gets a bit awkward and heavy for flying. But, until we get a bit more accomplished in cooking for the masses on period equipment, we will likely cook at the offsite rental unit and transfer to the cooking pots in camp as needed. I will make some sort of traveling bag for the implements, either in leather or heavy linen, probably in the form of a rollup bag. But can't really start this until I have accounted for everything I need. High on the "To Buy" list is a long fork, a ladle and maybe some tongs to grab food with. - A wool watchman's cloak. I have a short sailor jacket in wool, but wanted something with more coverage and warmer in case of foul weather. I've seen a few of these around and they seem very versatile and may even substitute for the wool blanket in the bedroll. I've got some charcoal wool and some window pane linen for a lining (same as bedroll) [Edit] - Following on WIlliam's suggestion to weather our kit... wear my apron when I cook at home to get it a little more "used". It still looks new save for a couple small stains

If you would like to try stiffening your hat with shellac flakes, I can send you some. I have a big baggie full and it only takes a couple tablespoons per can of denatured alcohol, then all you need is a spray bottle. LMK. I'm gonna start another thread for my kit rather than hijack your thread 😀