1862 U.S. Sanitary Commission Drawers
From the early months of the American Civil War, donations of wool drawers were requested by the U.S. Sanitary Commission for preserving the health of soldiers. During 1862, a pattern of wool drawers began being distributed by the New England Sanitary Commission in the form of pre-cut sewing kits and paper patterns. Designed to efficiently use fabric with little waste, it is possible that this garment pattern was inspired by, or even closely duplicated, a mass-produced style of drawers associated with the readymade clothing market.
In the evolution of U.S. Sanitary Commission drawers patterns, this garment stands out. After tens of thousands of these drawers were produced from pre-cut kits and paper patterns, the specifications for this garment were selected to be shared nationally on May 1, 1864 in the publication: The U.S. Sanitary Commission Bulletin.
Not only had the design of Sanitary Commission drawers evolved, but also that of the distribution of patterns. These published instructions in The Bulletin included the illustrated shapes of pattern pieces engraved on printing blocks that were typeset alongside construction specifications. This new way of printed distribution allowed the pattern to efficiently reach larger audiences, provided a visual to clarify construction specifications, and attempted to standardize which pattern volunteer sewists followed.
Initially when published, the pattern called for the drawers to be constructed of wool flannel. However, during the summer of 1864, the fabrics for this pattern were expanded to include cotton. Based on U.S. Sanitary Commission documents, it seems likely that the cotton fabric used with this pattern was sheeting and canton flannel.
There are no specifications for the color of drawers constructed from this pattern. However, through examining other U.S. Sanitary Commission patterns and instructions from the war, it is very likely they were to be predominately manufactured of gray, natural/white, or red wool flannel. Some colors like gray or off white/white could be obtained through undyed natural colored sheep fleece. The use of vegetable dyed red wool flannel was not for aesthetics, but rather because of the believed medicinal value of the material as a counter irritant—especially for rheumatism which was a leading cause of medical discharge from the U.S. military.
Per the historic instructions, this drawers pattern features the option for a pieced front area near the fly. Construction of this pattern would have depended on what technology was available to volunteer sewists. It is likely that both hand sewn, and machine sewn drawers were represented by U.S. Sanitary Commission garments distributed to soldiers. Buttons were specified to be blackened bone for wool flannel drawers. For instructions on how to recreate blackened reproduction bone buttons with an adapted historic recipe, please visit the following link. It appears that cotton drawers of this pattern were likely to use white bone buttons.
The 1862 U.S. Sanitary Commission drawers offered by Civil War Patterns are developed from the original specifications; in addition to in-depth research on military and civilian drawers from the middle part of the 19th century. It is offered both in its original size of a 32-inch waist, in addition to larger sizes graded from the original pattern. In all sizes of this historic drawers pattern, the waist is expandable a few inches through a rear tie and a series of eyelets.
As these drawers were made on the home front utilizing a wide range of sewing skill levels, this garment is an ideal candidate for being replicated by home sewists with little to moderate sewing experience, by using our digital pattern with 74 pages of instructions.
Print-On-Demand Option:
Planning to print the A0 size file from your digital pattern? We can do it for you with this option! Here's a link to consider adding this to your order:
Fabric and Thread Required:
- 2 1/2 to 3 yards of 56-inch-wide wool flannel, cotton canton flannel, or cotton sheeting; please visit this link for specific details
- Three 5/8” bone buttons (for wool drawers use blackened buttons per the instructions available through civilwarpatterns.com and for cotton drawers use natural/white colored bone buttons).
- 1/2 of a yard of 45-inch-wide cotton silesia for facings on wool version, otherwise a cotton sheeting will work well for facings on the cotton version
- One yard of 1/2" cotton or linen tape for the back waist tie and a small reinforcing stay
- For machine sewing, it is recommended to use Gutermann’s quilting thread, if hand sewing use cotton or linen thread; color of thread depends on fabric used: dyed thread for colored wool flannel and natural/white for cotton