The Tailor Trade at Fort McKavett

Submitted by Jennifer OHair on

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THC's Historic Sites, Fort McKavett State Historic Site

By Cody Mobley, Fort McKavett Staff

Piece of paper demonstrating the four basic stitches

This summer, Fort McKavett State Historic Site hosted a program called "A Stitch in Time: Company Tailors and the Tailor Shop at Fort McKavett." The interactive program was about the fort’s tailor shop and company tailors during the years of its operation as a military post.

Visitors learned and practiced the four basic stitches used by tailors and company tailors at Fort McKavett to construct and alter clothing: the whip stitch, the back stitch, the pad stitch, and the buttonhole stitch.

Attendees also learned about the tailor shops at the site and period methods of draughting and assembling clothing.

1840s Kenrick child’s ironA few original artifacts of the period were on hand, such as an 1858 Wilcox & Gibbs chain stitch sewing machine and an 1840s Kenrick child’s iron.

Fort McKavett State Historic Site is located west of Menard on FM 864 in the Texas Forts Trail Region.

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