Sailor's Short Jacket

[kass]

Pat, carefully cut the lining around each buttonhole and remove the lining without affecting the buttonholes. Frock coats were made without the lining being stitched into the buttonhole so the lining could be removed and replaced (it get dirty a lot faster than the rest of the coat).

I don't remember about the common jackets that are extant. But I don't think any of them were lined...

[Patrick Hand]

But I don't think any of them were lined...

Well I had to line it... because that's what it said in the slops contract.... but more importantly, if I didn't line it, you could see USN painted on the inside....

I have some other projects that I have to work on first, and I use the jacket as my Winter coat, so it wont be untill Spring anyway.....

[kass]

Oh no, Pat! I didn't mean Slop Contract Jackets weren't line. As you say -- the contacts specify linings.

I meant the extant common men's jackets (not Slop Contract) aren't lined. Different thing, but something to compare.

[Captain Midnight]

Is grey the only color we have specifically mentioned in the slops contracts, or could they have also been made in other colors as well?

[kass]

Grey is the only colour specified in the Admiralty Slop Contracts.

But there's no reason why sailors couldn't have had other colours made by other suppliers. Remember that the Admiralty Slop Contacts were just specifications for makers of slop clothing. Slop clothing wasn't issued to common sailors in the Royal Navy -- they had to buy it. And they could easily choose to wear their own gear on ship.

[Fox]

Didn't we discuss colours for non-ASC spec jackets earlier? Oh yes, page 1:

However, they were not the be-all-and-end-all. We've got references to blue jackets, red jackets, white jackets, striped jackets...

[Captain Midnight]

Yep, we did, Foxe. I had a temporary lapse of memory...sorry!

[michaelsbagley]

The link above is the one that shows how I drafted and made my slops contract jacket... The one I made is slightly different than Kass's pattern, Mine is a little longer, and the pocket flaps have more "scallop" I think there are three buttons on the cuffs on Kass's and only two on mine (well and mine isn't lined with wool cotton....)

It's kinda interesting how similar they both are... well we did use the same picture to work from......

I used an old grey Navy blanket to make mine, I figured it would be close to Shrunk Kernsey..... But I didn't have any wool "cotton", so I cheated and used cotton, cotton....

Funny thing Patrick, when I made Mission's coat, he wanted it a slight bit longer, and so I extended the bottom out slightly. I'm guessing Mission's coat is probably a navy blue twin to yours. I don't think I have used the RH pattern for pocket flaps on anything I have made, I have always preferred to customize the flaps up a bit... I've done both the scallops and the more triangular styles. The RH pattern also doesn't specify the number of buttons to use... Althoug I think it does make reccomendations, and I think I have always gone with three on the cuffs rather than 2. I'm curious as to how well two buttons work rather than three, I might have to give that a try for some variety... I am guessing I will be helping Nick with some more piratey/sailor clothing now that his Red Coat stuff is pretty much done.

[Patrick Hand]

I decided that two buttons would hold the cuff closed just as well as three buttons would.... (they do)

The picture back on the second page, looks like there were only two buttons, so that's what I did....

[Patrick Hand]

Oh yeah... I also have a much lighter weight wool one lined with linen that I wore at PiP.... the grey wool blanket one is just too hot for Florida.... it would just have stayed on my hammock all day at PiP....

[michaelsbagley]

I think the thread I had in mind was the one about making a justacorps. And, being in the Thieve's Market area rather than in Twill, I didn't find it until after my post last night. So it seems the "Short Jacket Construction for Dummies" thread exists only in my mind. Guess that makes me the latest in a long line of dummies. I may be asking some rather stupid questions in the days to come. Like, when Kass' pattern says "fold", does that mean I double over the fabric, aligned at the fold? Right now, I'm tempted to fold as in "throw in my cards and give up."

Sjöröveren, there are no stupid questions... And trust me, I'll happily give as much advice as you want or need (and probably some you don't as well )

What step number is the instruction to fold at that you are unsure about? I can have a peek at my copy of the pattern when I get home in about 2 hours and get back to you with a fuller explanation, if that will help.

Cheers, and if you are willing or feel like, please post pics of your progress, I like to see how others proceed with their projects.