I'm very close to putting the finishing touches on the drawers kit I bought from WW&C and have a question. The fly gaps open to an alarming level, leaving me to feel a little, well, exposed. I'm also seriously concerned about any chafing issues that might come about. Got a good visual going on? Sorry.

Here's the question: is it authentic to put a few buttons in my new undies?

Mel, I'm guessing the kit came with a top button and one other.  The one other is about three inches below the top, leaving the bottom wide open.  Yep, that sounds about right.  You won't chafe unless your trousers are tight for some reason.

Yeah Ken, the kit came with two buttons, but the instructions and photo show both on the waistband, none on the fly itself.

 

--Last edited by Private Glover on 2009-04-20 15:32:09 --

I believe you have been cursed with the infamous "French Cut" drawers.

The barn door is wide open, and the livestock is free to roam where it will.  For our modern sensibilities, it is a rather uncomfortable feeling.

You have two choices:  Get used to it or shut the d@mned door.

I shut the door, not with buttons, but with a few stitches, leaving enough room at the appropriate height for easy egress and the return trip without having to mess with the buttons.

I've also discovered that, with a more rounded central physique than the originals, the drawers had a nasty habit of walking  their way down on the march to as low as the trowsers would allow them to go.  It is a most distressing sensation...

Tucking the shirt in under the drawers has greatly reduced this unfortunate occurance.

Quote :

The barn door is wide open, and the livestock is free to roam where it will.  For our modern sensibilities, it is a rather uncomfortable feeling. You have two choices:  Get used to it or shut the d@mned door.

    TDF!

A pard's allowed me to thumb through his CRRC (thanks Al) and it talks about how many of the soldiers tucked their shirt tails as low as possible to mitigate the worst of the chaffing. Also, Dan W. hooked me up with an extra button that I'll be installing.  

--Last edited by Private Glover on 2009-05-09 09:22:11 --

Maybe it helps to consider this going forward in time, rather than backward. A few decades before the 1860s, one's shirttails were expected to accomplish all the underwear duties, so drawers were an additional layer. Anything they covered was more than it used to be. Now we picture them as a substitute for modern underwear, which of course is designed to be used without any help.

Or you could just solve the problem the way I did. Make six sets of drawers, then lose 30 pounds. By the time you move the waist buttons over, the drawers will overlap so much, it's like herding the livestock through a fence stile.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net