ca. 1868 A Victorian Boys Suit

Description

Grey woollen boys suit lined with white cotton. The coat in zouave style with a little turndown collar has a white damask simulated vest with white mother of pearl buttones and is decorated with black braid and black buttons. The trousers would originally probably have been 3/4 lenght, but my son insisted on normal length trousers. The white cotton dress shirt is storebought.

Inspiration

De Gracieuse (a Dutch Fashion Magazine), the 14th of June 1868.

Patterns used

Ageless Patterns, 1868 Suit for boys 8-10 years.

More information

When my son decided he wanted a victorian costume, he made it very clear that he didn't want a sailor suit, which was very popular at that time. He didn't want a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit either, which was also very fashionable at that time. It is hard finding victorian boy's costume patterns. Patterns for girls are relatively easy, even brands like Simplicity have victorian style girls costume patterns, but nothing for boys. So when I came across Ageless Patterns, where I could choose from several Victorian Boys clothing patterns I was really happy.

Patterns from Ageless Patterns are original victorian patterns, in one, the original, size only, with the original description enclosed. The description is usually minimal, for best results I advice using (Victorian) tailoring techniques books, like Authentic Victorian Dressmaking Techniques by Kristina Harris or in Dutch an old version of Ik kan kostuumnaaien and making a mock-up version. If you have sewing experience and common sense the patterns, I have used, will be doable.

The trousers pattern is pretty straight forward. I had some trouble getting the hidden button fly in, which is due to my inexperience. The only alteration I made to the pattern was that I made the trousers longer.
The coat was a bigger problem, my son is quite long and thin for his age. So I had to make al the pattern pieces longer. The coat than turned out very wide, which could be just the fashion of 1868, or me doing something wrong when I made the pattern pieces longer, but also it had a strange curve in the back at the waist, it stood out. We had to make several alterations before getting the look we liked. I also left out the breastpocket, as I really dislike sewing pockets in, and my son usually stuffs his pockets, all his pockets with precious finds like stones, twiggs etc.

Alternate view(s)

Back of costume

Costume made and worn in 2009