sutler question

[jmorgan]

Greetings all.

A couple of reenactors here had told me about 19th Century Tailoring, a company here in the UK that does period clothing. While I have read numerous reviews of Sutlers in the States, this one happens to be here. I was hoping for opinions from the US ACW community as a guiding point. I have seen the uniforms in person and they did look truly amazing, but I am far from truly knowledgeable. I shared a link from the items I am looking to possibly get. Feel free to take a gander at the other items so as I may get a good POV on how got (or not good) they are. Thank you all in advance.

http://www.sutlers.co.uk/acatalog/CScav.html

 

[D.H. Hill]

First of all, welcome to CivilWarTalk.

There are many people here who are a lot more qualified, but since nobody has answered your questions yet I'll mention a few points which jump out at me.

I presume you're going to portray a Confederate Cavalryman, probably in the Army of Northern Va.

Yellow dyes were expensive and most confederate cavalry wore plain uniforms. Trim was also more common earlier in the war. The early jackets also had epaulettes. Trouser buttons were generally bone, although some examples are tin. Many of these tin buttons were japanned (a process which results in a black finish). Trousers adjusted in the back with either a string loop through sewn eyelets or a small cloth strap with a buckle. Military vests were privately made and purchased, so as long as the materials are period correct I don't have any criticisms. I will mention, though, that most of the vests I have seen had civilian-type buttons; bone, wood, glass, ceramic, etc.

Here are a couple articles written about confederate uniforms which I found particularly useful when I was first starting out and highly recommend.
Adolphus Confederate Uniforms- myriad articles which mostly examine the details of original artifacts: http://www.adolphusconfederateuniforms.com/
"Confederate Issue Jackets" by historian Leslie Jensen: http://military-historians.org/company/journal/confederate/confederate-1.htm
"Observations of Civil War Era Shirts" by Jason Rich: http://www.gavolbn.org/shirtobservations.html

 

[Cumpston1862]

Welcome Sir.

One of the most knowledgeable people on Confederate uniforms imported from England is actually on your side of the pond. Follow the link below to a very good reference book. Note the two authors Craig L. Berry and Dave Burt. Craig lives in Murfressboro, Tennessee and posts on this forum and Dave Burt Lives in England.

http://www.horsesoldier.com/products/stock-items/books/10122

 

[Grayrock Volunteer]

Good info above, I hope you take the advice.
I suppose the good news is that the description of a couple of their items lists Hainsworth wool, which if better than a lot of stuff used on this side of the Atlantic. Bad news is that their jackets in no way correspond to anything produced at the Richmond Depot.
Quality gear in the UK may be a bit of a problem, but Jan Berg in Germany produces some quality stuff, and there are plenty of guys here in the states that you can get good stuff from.

Cheers,
Garrett Glover

 

[jmorgan]

Thanks for much for the advice and information. I have the luck of both and American APO and a Royal Mail address. Minimum two week shipping via APO and anywhere from a few days to the end of time with Royal Mail.

I am looking to portray a Confederate Cavalryman, that is correct. But I will be versatile and portray a basic infantryman as well, since numbers is an important factor. After all, more Infantry than Cavalry. I have always been highly fascinated by J.E.B. Stuart. Him and the 1st Virginia are reasons I became a Cavalryman myself.

Again, thanks for the info!

 

[101combatvet]

Their pants don't look correct and the collar on their vest is way to high in my opinion.

 

[Frederick14Va]

Most of it appears to be standard "theatrical" costume wear rather than anything authentically or historically based... As mentioned by others the patterns used are far off from anything original....

The fancy tailor made militia and early war goods may look spiffy.... but remember their span of use was rather limited to those early months of the war..... once they wore out the replacements were simpler commutation or depot issues generally void of all the dandy trimmings...

 

[101combatvet]

Their Richmond Depot Style Jacket doesn't look bad at all, but is way over priced in my opinion.

 

[Craig L Barry]

Shoot Dave Burt an email [email protected]. He has quite a bit on Confederate uniforms, does mostly Confederate, he lives in the UK and he will be able to direct you to a quality provider.

 

[jmorgan]

Thanks Craig!