Overcoat

“ The overcoat is a dark blue ulster-coat, reaching about midway from the knee to the foot, double-breasted, buttoning to the neck with seven large flat black buttons on each side, with a wide rolling collar, with a pocket having a vertical opening on each side above the waist, and fitted with waist straps at the back. Shoulder marks of the same design as those for the white service coat are worn with the overcoat and the rank of the wearer is indicated by stripes of black mohair braid on the lower part of the sleeve. ”

“ A short-waisted, double-breasted overcoat has been a good deal worn by quite young men of late. It is fashionable, and would, perhaps, become generally popular, if it did not tend to make the wearer look like a footman. The man of taste always selects for his overcoats dark, quiet colors. ”

“ Nevertheless we have never been able to conquer our instinctive feeling that a fur-lined overcoat indicates the possession of a great deal of money and a doggish tendency to spend it on wine, women, and—well, the singing is not so important in the picture. Whenever we see a man sporting a fur-lined overcoat our first thought is to wonder whether or not his wife has found out about him. Our second is to wish we had a coat like it. ”

“ The overcoat for officers is a double-breasted sack overcoat of knee length made of forestry-green cloth. It has a turn-down notched collar with soft lapels, two horizontal side pockets with straight flaps, and shoulder straps similar to those on the jacket but slightly larger. On each of these shoulder straps is worn a Greek cross of red cloth or silk embroidery. The buttons of the overcoat are plain bone buttons of a color to match the coat. On each side of the collar one inch above the notch in the lapel the initials A. R. C. in plain bronze block letters are worn. ”

“ It is a fact, which should be well understood by cutters, that a good-fitting overcoat for the normal form will fit well, as an undercoat for the large-waisted form, because a large waist requires a shorter back, and again, the waist of an overcoat cannot be cut according to a waist measure with the tape drawn tightly over the undercoat, and as closely as the body will allow it to be drawn together, but the waist measure must be taken over the undercoat, as loosely as it hangs on the body, and this represents a large waist. ”

“ All overcoats are the better off by having plenty spring over the seat, and if there be too much spring, it is easy to sew it in. Dia. Xa will be found to represent an overcoat for a more forward-leaning form, but not for the stooping form. The neck is cut pretty well upward, and besides the three-eighths spring at the shoulder seam, the side of the neck must be stretched at least 3⁄8 to 1⁄2 inch on each side, or else the collar will be too tight. ”

“ That night he pawned his new white overcoat with the bone buttons and velvet collar—the one his father had sent him, and which had been the envy of every man in the club, and invested every penny of the proceeds in a supper to be given to the Skylarks. The invitation ran as follows:
Mr. Cornelius McFudd respectively requests the pleasure of your presence at an informal wake to be held in honor of a double-breasted overcoat, London cut. The body and tail will be the ducks, and the two sleeves and velvet collar the Burgundy. ”

“ He was an elderly man, with a thin, projecting nose, a high, bald forehead, and a huge grizzled moustache. An opera hat was pushed to the back of his head, and an evening dress shirt-front gleamed out through his open overcoat. His face was gaunt and swarthy, scored with deep, savage lines. In his hand he carried what appeared to be a stick, but as he laid it down upon the floor it gave a metallic clang. Then from the pocket of his overcoat he drew a bulky object, and he busied himself in some task which ended with a loud, sharp click, as if a spring or bolt had fallen into its place. ”

“ When the work is otherwise complete a solid coat of white should be spread over the whole, and when this is dry a thick coat of Brunswick black. The first will prevent the second from showing through, as it might to the great detriment of the coloring. Brunswick black is used as the overcoat, because it effectually protects the painting proper from injury by the subsequent silvering. ”

“ The general effect is well enough while the overcoat is kept on, but the moment it is removed evaporation recommences, and the body is placed in a ‘cooler,’ constructed on the principle adopted when a damp cloth is wrapped round a butter-dish—the vapour passing off, abstracting the heat, and leaving the contents of the cooler refrigerated. The point to make clear is that the overcoat, let it be fashioned and ventilated as it may, does not prevent the underclothing from being saturated with moisture, but actually tends to make the moisture accumulate therein. ”

“ For this the neck-tie should he studied, and the cut of the coat-chest and sleeve, when coats must be worn: and every man must have some sort of overcoat, for chilly and damp hours of duty. There is great danger in the wearing of water-proof fabrics, unless they are so loose as to admit of a free circulation of air between them and the body. ”

“ The upper curve is especially intended for overcoats, because the overcoat armhole is cut deeper than the under coat armhole. The upward curve forms a gusset, or a wedge, which allows the arm to be raised on the same principle that the lap of the shoulder and sleeve on top allows the arm to be moved downward. When the arm is down, and in its natural position, the gusset on top is taken up and the one below the arm is hidden, and will not show at all. But if the arm is to be moved upward, it is there for supply, and the body of the coat is not required to go along. ”

“ Certain insignificant but marked idiosyncrasies in his dress accompanied this violence of moral emotion. For some reason best known to himself, he never carried an umbrella or a walking-stick. He wore driving gloves upon every possible occasion, suitable and unsuitable, and he affected in particular, in all weathers not intolerably warm, a remarkable type of Green Overcoat with which the reader is already sufficiently acquainted. ”

“ Another peculiarity is that everybody wears an overcoat of the same weight, summer and winter. No matter how hot it is the men wear long, thick, heavy overcoats over their regular suits. This is especially true of army officers, and it is odd to see a gallant captain in winter apparel walking in the promenade with a graceful young woman in the lightest of embroidered white batiste. ”

“ A rug or shawl may be taken, if one has a fancy for it, but it is not at all necessary, as the stout overcoat supplies its place, and serves the additional purposes of an overcoat. Take the same underclothing that you would take for a six weeks' trip anywhere in the States; when your stock is exhausted you can buy a fresh supply in any of the ports or inland cities of the East, particularly the former. ”

“ Shooting coats that had seen better days, a dozen shabby overcoats-worn proudly through the hottest noons-raggety breeches and trousers made by some London tailor, queer baggy homemades of the same persuasion, or quite simply the square of cotton cloth arranged somewhat like a short tight skirt, or nothing at all as the man's taste ran. ”

“ We have had some leather stirrups sewed into the bottom of our overcoat, in which we slip our feet to keep them from dangling uncomfortably. Another feature of our technique is that we always go into the car with our arms raised and crossed neatly on our chest, so that they will not be caught and pinioned to our flanks. ”

“ ‘He’s made himself a rabbit-skin cap, Jim, and a rabbit-skin collar that he buttons on outside his coat. They ain’t got but one overcoat among ‘em over there, and they take turns wearing it. They seem awful scared of cold, and stick in that hole in the bank like badgers.’
‘All but the crazy boy,’ Jake put in. ”

“ He put his foot on it, and lifted one of the sleeves out with his teeth, and chewed and chewed at it, gradually taking it in, and all the while opening and closing his eyes in a kind of religious ecstasy, as if he had never tasted anything as good as an overcoat before, in his life. ”

“ Mere clothes might be all right for millionaires and geniuses, but sumptuous raiment for ours! We couldn't afford to wear less.
THAT FUR COAT That Fur Coat
Ever since our downy and callow youth the fur-lined overcoat has been for us a symbol of wealth and a certain dashing deviltry. Of course, we are perfectly well aware that a number of tame married men, holding positions worth about twenty dollars a week, own fur-lined coats. Even on the editorial staff of which we are the bright particular star there are two or three overcoats lined with something definitely recognizable as fur. ”

“ A man may be contented with an $18.00 overcoat even though he knows some other men wear coats that cost $45.00. A woman may wear $1 gloves and see the $2 kind without being disturbed. It is different with medicine. Everyone wants the highest quality ”

“ It will be noticed that pleats are put in the lining down the front shoulder under the arm, and down the back, and the fly kept a seam behind the front edge, the stay for the hip pocket; being either carried in to the scye or to the sideseam; either plan will do, but it is scarcely necessary to use both. A V of silk is put in the front of scye to allow ample room at that part, the in breast pockets should be jeated top and bottom, and faced. The two hip pockets of an Overcoat should always be either cloth or chamois leather, as silesia feels poor and cold to put the hands in. ”

“ If, instead of wearing overcoats, people would wear coats of different thicknesses, according to the weather and conditions generally, they would avoid the danger of cooling by evaporation; the garments saturated with moisture would be removed, and dry off the body instead of on it. ”

“ For instance, if some manufacturer has made too many overcoats, and we are able to get them at a bargain, or if there is a mild winter and overcoats do not sell well, we may place on sale a lot of coats which were meant to be sold at $40, but which we are willing to sell at $22.50. ”

“ Coats of lead, heavy in body, and perchance a bit fatty or gummy, are applied to the surface. Such coats do not dry thoroughly. Oil in color coats tends to the same result. They deceive the workman, being apparently dry, but not really, when choked up under subsequent coatings. A surface so builded is eventually put into service and submitted to the sunlight. Warmed by the heat, these undried particles of color or lead quickly respond to the law of expansion. The varnish, supple and full of elasticity, instead of cracking and splitting into fissures, simply swells up with the paint. ”

“ Moreover, it is held that the fur being interposed between the ordinary coat and the great-coat, permits of a certain amount of healthy ventilation.
In the summer, when the weather is very hot, provided that a thick suit of clothes be worn, a great-coat is sometimes unnecessary, except as a protection from dust. A light dustcoat, made of a dust-coloured material and fitted with a high collar, will then be found useful, as after a dusty drive it may be taken off, and the ordinary clothes are left unsoiled. ”

“ Best Putty.—In mixing putty, which may be a small matter with some, take care to so prepare it that it will dry perfectly hard in 18 hours. Use ground lead and japan, stiffening up with dry lead, and whatever colouring you may require in it to match your priming coats.
The next coats, after the work is well puttied, should be made to dry flat and hard. Two coats should be applied, and, for all ordinary jobs or cheap work, sand-papering is all that is necessary for each coat; but when a good surface is required, I would recommend one coat to be put on heavy enough to fill the grain ”

“ When more than two coats are to be applied, the filling should be done between the first and second coats, with ordinary pure linseed-oil putty.
It should be adopted as a rule, never to apply pure white as a priming coat; no matter whether the work is to be finished with one or four coats, the result will always be more satisfactory if the first coat be stained. A little finely-ground lampblack answers as well for this as anything.
The only way to produce solid, uniform work, is by making every succeeding coat lighter in tint than the one which preceded it. ”

“ White Coating For Signs, Etc.—A white color for signs and articles exposed to the air is prepared as follows for the last coat: Thin so-called Dutch “stand” oil with oil of turpentine to working consistency, and grind in it equal parts of zinc white and white lead, not adding much siccative, as the white lead assists the drying considerably. If the paint is smoothed well with a badger brush, a very durable white color of great gloss is obtained. Linseed oil, or varnish which has thickened like “stand” oil by long open storing, will answer equally well. ”

“ The frock-coat should be ample and loose, and a tall well-built man may throw it back. At any rate, it should never be buttoned up. Great-coats should be buttoned up, of a dark color, not quite black, longer than the frock-coat, but never long enough to reach the ankles. If you have visits to make you should do away with the great-coat, if the weather allows you to do so. The frock-coat, or black cut-away, with a white waistcoat in summer, is the best dress for making calls in. ”

“ The petroleum is thin, and penetrates the wood, filling up the pores, and giving a good ground for the coats of paint.
According to one American authority, the preparation is of great value. The priming coat should be thin and well rubbed in, and it is better to use a darker colour than white lead as a base. White lead forms a dense covering to the surface, though it has its disadvantages. When petroleum has formed the first coat, two other coats will suffice, one being the priming coat, and a third coat may be given after the work has stood for a season. ”