The Concept

So given the variation in time seen in manuscript illustrations and that shown in existing coats I decided I needed to set down some guidelines that I would follow in order to get a consistent look and feel to my coats. These guidelines are:

1. The coat will be based on the early coats as shown in manuscript illustrations. It will have a rounded inner neckline.
2. It will be made with a minimum number of panels and pieces based on a loom width of 65cm.
3. There will be three panels for the front and back body, two pieces for the sleeves and the leftovers from the sleeves will become gores in the sides of the coat.
4. The sleeves of the coat will extend past the fingers and be tight at the wrist. When the sleeves are pushed up so that the hands are free it will match the rucking seen in manuscript illustrations.

The pattern for this coat is shown in Figure 7. The back panel plus one of the front panels can be cut out as a single piece as shown in the pattern below. Doing this saves you one seam but does mean any pattern will be upside down on one part of the coat so you may want to cut them out as separate panels. The length of the sleeves are determined by measuring from the wearer's shoulder to 5cms (2 inches) past the tips of their outstretched fingers. The triangles that result from cutting out the sleeves will then be used as the side gores in the coat. In the pattern there is a dotted line on the inner crossover this indicates that a piece of that inner crossover will need to be trimmed off in order to make the coat fit correctly. I usually leave this until I have the coat sewn up and I can do a fitting and work out how much to cut off.

Figure 7 - Pattern for high necked coat

When sewing the coat together there are a few things to note. Firstly, always sew the side gores so that the long side is attached to the body panels (see Figure 8). Doing this will give the coat more of a curved form which will hang better. Always cut the coats inner and outer crossover when it is right side out that way you can be certain which one is which. Since you will be rucking the sleeves up you need to make sure the wrists are only as wide as is comfortable for you to take your arm out of the sleeve. The diagonal cut for the outer crossover should extend from the neck to the hip of the wearer. Manuscript illustrations show this diagonal to be a lot lower than those we see on Mongol coats.

Figure 8 - Pattern showing coat assembled

Some Alternatives

As with any item based on period illustrations and related garments rather than an existing garment there is a degree of speculation. So I'm including here some alternatives that I've considered.

Instead of cutting out three panels to make the body an alternative would be to cut out four panels that would include the sleeves and gores (see Figure 9). By doing this you could remove the shoulder seams completely but you would add seams for the back of the coat and the two crossover panels. Also the sleeves pieces would become extensions rather than full sleeves.

Figure 9 - Possible pattern for coat

Another alternative is based on my earlier comments on the early Turkish coat being a reversed Chinese coat. This would mean a slightly different finish to the top of the inner crossover as shown in Figure 10 and the addition of a tie to the inside of the coat. The style I currently use doesn't need a tie as the inner crossover sits partly on the shoulder and is held in place by the outer crossover.

Figure 10 - Inner crossover collar patterns