Men's Regency Tailcoats

Aylwen has been sewing Regency Tailcoats for a few years and is now taking orders for custom made coats - for anyone able to visit her for fittings in Canberra, Australia - or happy to pay her travel costs to come to you! In fact, she's happy to travel anywhere to sew you a coat - though if overseas, the cost is double as she needs her husband to accompany her - though once at your place overseas she is happy to fit and make the coat for you, provided she has access to a large table to cut out the fabric. She can sew the coat by machine or by hand, though by hand will take a lot longer. See http://www.regencyreproductions.com for prices of men's custom sewn Regency garments. And for those looking for research information on later era coats, there is a new article in this blog on 1840s coats.
The Regency tailcoat below can be made with the Country Wives Tailcoat Pattern and I recommend the Kannicks Korner waistcoat pattern for an accurate period style.

Aylwen & John Gardiner-Garden, December 2011

Suzi Clarke wrote an excellent article To Cut a Regency Coat where she goes in-depth on the inner workings of the regency tailcoat. Other books that I use regularly for making men's outfits from this period are Federalist & Regency Costume 1790-1819 and The Cut of Men's Clothes 1600-1900. Another book that is often a help, but a bit late for this period is Men's Garments 1830-1900 .
These tailcoats are less tailored than the formal jackets of today, and the construction requires you to work differently to what you expect.

Below are some pictures Aylwen has been collecting over the years. These will help you work out what colour wool you want, plus to start thinking about buttons, trims, waistcoat colours and so on.