A Uniform for All Seasons!!

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Happy 2017 to all my readers!!  It's been a long time since I sat down and wrote a post for all of you to read so I'll catch you all up to speed a bit.  I'm gearing up to head out in a few weeks to my second Battle of the Bulge (FIG) reenactment in Fort Indiantown Gap, PA.  This is a wonderful event put on every year by the WWII Historical Association.  The organizers put in countless hours to execute this event and make it one of the not to miss events along the East Coast.  This event deserves it's own separate post to describe it well so for now I'll leave just a few pictures below.  

Working some of the switchboards at FIG 2016

Dinners & Dirndls always make for a wonderful evening, FIG 2016

Since that last post I have spent the last several months dedicated to sewing and creating additional uniforms for my new impression.  After attending Warbirds over the Beach in Virginia Beach I decided to pursue a new impression as a Nachrichten Heflerin des Heeres.  This was a natural progression in my growth in the hobby as it allowed me to participate with a unit many of my friends were a part of.  

First off was the "Walking Out" uniform, this uniform is the basic uniform NHdH often were seen wearing in original photographs and consisted of the double breasted tunic, skirt, overseas cap, and service shirt.  For this uniform I decided to purchase from Schusters.  Schusters is a company located in Belarus, Russia that specializes in reproduction uniforms for both German and Russian military from WWI and WW2.  A note when dealing with Schuster is that you must have patience, there is a significant language barrier when communicating with them and their lead times are very long.  So don't order at the last minute for an event and get frustrated when they can't meet your deadline, the best plan is to order at least 4 months before you need the item.  Once getting past that, I have to say I was very impressed with the uniform I received.  The tailoring is fantastic since they make it according to your measurements and the quality of the wool is great too.  The wool is certainly not any of the cheap wool or polyester/wool blend you often see from the Asian manufacturers of reproduction uniforms.  The price was about mid-range for the female uniform market at just under $300 for the tunic, skirt, and hat.  I would recommend this uniform to anyone shopping for a wool walking out uniform for this impression.

A selfie but unfortunately the only photo I have in my Schusters Uniform, Rockford 2016

As I mentioned above Schusters has a very long lead time.  I originally ordered my uniform from them and planned it out so that it would arrive approximately 2 weeks before D-Day Ohio last August.  Unfortunately due to issues in Russian customs about a week prior to the event it was fairly clear that it wasn't going to arrive in time and coming to this realization was very disheartening.  In one of my crazy ideas I decided that if I wasn't going to have that as a new uniform to debut at the event I would come up with another uniform to debut.   Therefore one week before the event I undertook the challenge to pattern and reproduce the helferin Summer Uniform but not only was I going to make a single uniform I was going to make two, one for myself and one for my friend and fellow reenactor who also had her Schuster uniform delayed.  

The summer uniform was pretty straight forward in it's design as it consists of a white linen skirt with kickpleats and a white linen button up blouse.  The skirt I was able to reverse pattern from my Luftwaffe uniform skirt and the blouse was a mishmash of various pattern pieces I had for other blouses.  The uniform was quite well received and turned out beautifully.  In addition the gift of the summer uniform to my friend was a complete surprise and something she truly appreciated.  

Enjoying our lunch while trying to keep the white uniforms clean, D-Day Ohio 2016

Photo taken by Canteen Cowboy at D-Day Ohio 2016

The last uniform and possibly the most challenging uniform project I undertook this year was the Wehrmacht Helferinkorps M44 uniform.  This uniform was only issued after November 1944 once all the branches of the helferinkorps were organized under the umbrella of the Wehrmacht Helferinkorps.  Although the uniform style was basically standardized each branch still had small variations such as the color of wool, insignia, and other minor details.  The uniform consisted of a tunic, skirt, and/or pants.  In the book, Last Ride of the Valkyries, author Jim Poole does an excellent job translating the original tailors instructions on the construction of the uniforms.  

The same friend who I did the summer uniform was one that I decided to reproduce this uniform for along with one for myself.  Both her and I lamented the inconvenience when we are at field events that we didn't have a uniform with pants to wear which drove our desire to try and reproduce this uniform.  After hours of research on this uniform I felt prepared to tackle this project.  

Research & the start of notes on the pattern for the M44 uniform

In terms of patterning, I was able to drape a pattern using a reproduced Flak helferin M44 tunic and for the pants used a pair of civilian ski trousers to reverse engineer a pattern off of.  This process in itself took approximately a 6 weeks alone to finalize.  After countless revisions and mockups a final pattern was completed and ready to start on construction of the final uniforms.  

Before starting on the final uniforms, the correct materials had to be sourced.  The Heer M44 uniforms were made of a Feldgrau colored wool which is not an easily sourced color wool.  Both Hessen and At the Front sell this wool by the yard though.  I requested swatches from both of them and after receiving both swatches and comparing them I chose to proceed with the fabric from At the Front.  Hessen's was not a bad wool or an incorrect color, it was just a preference to go with At the Front.  Buttons were also sourced from At the Front and the insignia came from Bill's Militaria.  

Many late nights, long weekends, and blood, sweat, and tears went into these uniforms but I am very happy with how they turned out.  I would easily estimate that over 100 hours if not more of work went into this project.  The uniforms finally made their debut at IR134's annual December event, "Christmas in the Trenches," in Lugoff, SC.  Again this is a wonderful event that deserves it own separate post to do it justice.  Although I will say these uniforms were perfect for the event, as it wasn't only a field tactical event but occurred when South Carolina had unseasonably cold weather so warm wool pants were a welcomed comfort in the cold weather.  

Morning Appell at CIT 2016

The entire NHdH squad from IR134, CIT 2016

And now you know exactly what I've been up to for the last several months this year.  I think that my collection of helferin uniforms is nearly complete so now I'll have to look to the next project to expand my reenacting wardrobe.  And for those that are attend the Battle of the Bulge event in a few weeks, I invite any of you that are interested to attend my class I'll be teaching titled, "Include and Elevate," which is based off of the topics I discussed in my last post I wrote in May.  

Links of Interest:

Battle of the Bulge Event Link:
http://www.wwiiha.org/new/index.php

D-Day Conneaut (Ohio):
http://www.ddayohio.us/

Schusters:
http://schusters.ru/en

IR134 "Hoch und Deutschmeister":
www.IR134-HuD.com