A 1750s brown linen caraco

Quite old project here, a creation I made last summer and I never wrote about! Shame on me! This little piece was a last minute project I made for an event last September but despite its simplicity, it turned out very well and it's lovely to wear.

Our event was set in the first half of 18th century and my closet wasn't equipped for that era. Being in the middle of the Halloween costuming season I really didn't have time to make a whole dress for me, including pattern drafting, mock ups, alterations and so on. So I looked in my stash and I found some scraps of the same brown linen of my previously made Outlander skirt. I cheated and used the same jacket pattern from Janet Arnold with some very basic alterations to draft the pattern of a mid-18th century caraco! The whole process took just about two days, yay! 

The whole thing came together so pretty that I decided to wear it again the week after in Tuscany. If you follow me on Instagram I'm pretty sure you already saw these photos. 

More are following...so keep on reading! 

So, as told before I used the same pattern of my blue Outlander jacket with just a few alterations. I just added winged cuffs (now removed) and elongated the skirt, using the body pieces instead of adding a separate peplum. This was definitely easier but it had to be done carefully because a wrong side length could cause wrinkles in the waist area (and you want a smooth bodice, right?). My side length (measuring over hoops) is 19.5 cm plus 1.5 of sleeve seam allowance so it is 21 cm in total. I added 22 cm more to this measurement to have a lovely and flowing skirts (2 cm were for the hem). When drafting skirts, please be generous and measure twice before cutting! Skirts HAVE to flare over your skirt support without pulling or be too tight; use all fabric width if possible and if not, add gores. 

I sewed the cotton lining using the modern method right side VS right side and turning, then I hand sew some small running stitching to give the illusion of a hand-sewn garment. The stomacher is a separate piece and it's joined to the jacket with pins. 

Some construction photos...

And other photos of the caraco worn - again in working/middle class style. I definitely need a better cap. 

Photos by Letizia Taschetta:

Look at the back fit: yummy!

Aaaaaand...some fancy photos! Let's rock 18th century with some modelling attitude! Photos by Roberto Buonafina.

Little update: I DID talk about this jacket last year, but completely forgot about that post. You can read the original discussion here!