By Thomas Raysor
Date Added: Wednesday 30 January, 2008 As a collector of original Civil War uniforms and battleflags since 1960, I was able to compare Nick's JT Martin contract fatigue blouse to an original Cincinnati depot inspected fatigue blouse with size dots in my collection. Aside from the usual minor regional and contract differences in manufacture that would normally have been expected at the time between different contracts produced in different parts of the country, I would say that Nick's reproduction compared to my original to the greatest extent possible. Nick's fatigue blouse is truly museum quality. It is obvious that he has copied an original garment down to the smallest detail. Because labor was cheap and materials expensive at the time, Nick's fatigue blouse reflects piecing on interior facings and underneath the collar, piecings which would not have been readily visible to the wearer but which would have yielded considerable cost savings to manufacturers with large contracts to fill. The thread color is correct. The lining has been custom woven to match the original. Two points struck me the most, however. First, the color of Nick's fatigue blouse is closer to the color of my original than other reproductions I have seen. Most reproductions are a dark blue...Nick's garment is more of a medium indigo blue. Which is correct. The second point impressed me the most. The JT Martin stamp was done in black while the size stamp was done in red. This may seem like an esoteric point. But it is this incredible attention to cut, materials and detail (down to the color of the contract and size stampings) that really make a period reproduction garment come alive. I personally don't think that you can get much closer to the original fatigue blouse than Nick has achieved. This is professional work. I want the best. This is it.
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!]
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