Coat Linings

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am in the process of reconstructing many of my current garments to make them more historically correct. Aside from stitching techniques, I am also trying to make my construction in line with extant garments. In my experience, I have found that most reproduction civilian garments are lined with some form of plain light linen because it's cheaper, cooler, and easier to construct than alternatives. However, if you browse the museum collections, you will find that linings are typically a combination of textiles, typically consisting of a silk or worsted woolen fabric on the parts of the lining that may be visible as your body moves and a cheaper fabric (linen) in the unseen back portions.

They most common lining colors that I have come across are gold, silver, and black. While those colors would go well with my green broadcloth coat, I wanted to see if any extant green wool coats were out there and see what they were lined with. That's when I ran across this beauty in the Royal Ontario Museum.

Not only is there an extant green broadcloth frock coat from the 1770s, the ROM has photos of the lining of the matching waitscoat. Check it out. I have never seen anything like this. The only way I could describe this is half-lined. The lining is truly minimalist by only extending to the what may be seen during wear and then quickly terminating into the interfacing. The rest of the waist coat is constructed like an unlined garment, save for the back panels that are fully lined in silk. Strange.

 It makes me curious as to what is going on inside of the coat. Potentially, the silk coat lining may end a few inches past the coat edge. I'm curious as to why this was done. Perhaps, the customer only had a set amount of silk and the tailor was working around a shortage? Perhaps, the customer wanted and unlined suit for summer wear, but still wanted to give the appearance of a lining? But what's the deal with the silk back panels in the waistcoat? Maybe it was altered?

Whatever the case this is very interesting.