Casaquin Jacket - Purple & Green Silk

Pattern: Drafting using the Norah Waugh, Diagram XXX "1760s Jacket" as a base. Petticoat is self drafted.
Fabrics: 100% silk. Main body is a two-tone silk consisting of magenta and deep blue, creating a final "ultraviolet" hue (this is also the name of the thread that matched perfectly, lol). Contrast trim and the stomacher is apple green silk.

Available on Etsy HERE

Measurements: *As they are on the dress form pictured
Chest: 39"
Waist: 31"
Hip: Free
Hem: 39" at front, 42" at sides, 41" at back.
Bicep: 13"
Back Width: 13.5"
Shoulders: 17.5"
Stomacher Length: 12"

1770s Casaquin Jacket - Deep violet silk. The Antique Sewist

~Altering the Pattern~
This style of jacket is easy enough to draft from scratch, but since I had a pattern that was already quite close, I used that as my spring board.

The original pattern is from The Cut of Women's Clothes, by Norah Waugh (diagram XXX), and is a fully front closing jacket with no skirt pleats. I have made this pattern before without much alteration, so you can see its original intent here in brick red silk.

The jacket is fully lined, sack style, with firm cotton, with the skirt pleats being made with the lining and silk as one (I have seen them done separately, which makes absolutely no sense to me, lol). The front closure is done with pins along the edges to the stomacher only; there is no free lining section with lacing or ties, etc. In the future, I may considering adding such a thing for ease, but I was trying here to stick to the few casaquin examples I have seen, which didn't have any lining fit assistance.

~What is a Casaquin?~
I asked the same question, and since I absolutely abhor plagiarism, I refer you to a post from The American Duchess to get the best and most detailed answer. Long story short, a casaquin is shorter than a caraco, longer than a Pierrot, and smooth across the back. Everything else seems up to the flighty labeling of the 18th century French =)

~Doing the Ruching Trim~
As with almost everything I do in the 18th century and regency, I apply trims by hand. The exception is when using a textured or raised trim that allows machine stitches to disappear or hide well, such as ornate gimps and braids. If the stitches are noticeable, I do them by hand.

Another reason, as you can see in the pics further down, is that hand stitching can be intentionally jagged and spaced, allowing the ruching to puff out and seemingly "float" on the surface of the dress. A machine stitch is one solid line hammering something down, which destroys that effect.

Now, I do utilize a long machine stitch for my gathering stitches (to be completely removed later). Above and below you can see the silk strips already gathered on and pinned for hand stitching. I did a 2:1 ratio gather.

(below) this photo is higher resolution and should, hopefully, allow you to get a better idea of the hand stitching very close to the edge (the silk strips are folded under 1/2" on each side).

~The Stomacher~

Once the rest of the jacket was complete, I placed it on a dress form and was able to do measurements for my stomacher. The jacket fronts are straight and perpendicular from the bust to the waist, so there is no V shape effect that a lot of people favor. If you do favor the jacket tapering in more toward the waist, you must make that decision when cutting. Because of having your front edges off-grain, though. It could result in stretching and warping.

My stomacher came out to be 12" long and 8" wide to the waist. I didn't want to bone this stomacher, so I compensated by adding a layer of stiff canvas between the already two layers of cotton lining.

The trim is a simple swirl design of ruching. There really is no quick and set method for doing this. It's all manipulation and pins. Lots and lots of pins. Then more manipulation to make sure the design is symmetrical.

Because of the 4 layers that comprise the stomacher, I didn't want to turn the bottom edge in a lining. Instead, I flat lined and bound the bottom with ultraviolet silk (I'm still not sure about that color name, but it seems to be the only thing that suits. Purple just isn't right, LOL).

~The Petticoat and Bum Roll~
The skirts of this jacket jut out perfectly over pocket hoops, but the rest of the style and color is just too later century for that, so I decided to go with the more subdued look of a bum roll. I decided to do the style with slightly fatter hips that I saw in this 18th century print:

The effect under the petticoat is quite nice

The petticoat itself is comprised of two panels, each 52" wide. The front top is tapered to be 3" lower than the sides. Below you can see the inside of the pleating to the waistband.

~Finished~