← technopuritan.com · the Collins household

What we wear · how to have it made

The Technopuritan Wardrobe

A long black wool coat with white cuffs built into the sleeve, a black shirt with a long, soft white linen collar, and a silver gear brooch at the throat.

This page is two things. It describes the outfit our family wears, one for cold weather and one for hot. And it is a specification: send it to any tailor or maker and they have what they need to quote. Nothing here is an add-on. The white cuffs are the coat’s own sleeves turned back, and the white collar belongs to the shirt underneath.

Seven long black wool coats on a garment rail, graduated from adult to toddler size, each with folded-back white-lined cuffs and the long white collar of the black shirt inside it laid over the coat collar
One family’s coats, adult to toddler. Every photograph on this page is a rendering of the garments as they should be made.

The three pieces

Black for the cloth, white at the neck and the wrists, and one emblem. Plain everywhere else: no trim, no braid, no contrast stitching. The coat itself is entirely black outside; both whites come from turning something back or laying something over.

The end of a black wool coat sleeve folded back on itself so its white wool lining shows as a deep white cuff, the black fold edge visible at the wrist
The sleeve folded back on itself: the white is its lining, white right round the fold.

No. 1The coat

Long, black and plain, in heavy wool. The white cuff is not a band of white cloth: the end of each sleeve is lined in white wool and folded back on itself, so the lining shows. The coat’s own collar is black; the white collar over it is the shirt’s. It comes in three cuts: fitted with a full skirt for women, straight and double-breasted for men, and the men’s cut in small sizes for children.

Cloth
Black wool melton or a heavy wool blend, about 20–24 oz per yard. Lined in black, except the sleeve ends.
Length
Ankle length; floor length for the women’s cut.
Cuffs
Cut the sleeves about 4 in (10 cm) long for adults and 3 in (7.5 cm) for children, line that last stretch in white wool, and fold it back so the white faces out. The cuff is white all the way round, the fold at the wrist included: no black edge or rim shows anywhere on it. Tack the fold at the seams so it stays turned back.
Front
Black buttons. Double-breasted for men and children; a single row from waist to throat for women.
Collar
Black, small and plain: narrow lapels or a stand collar, so the shirt’s white collar can be laid out over it.

White wool shows dirt, so choose a tightly fulled white melton for the sleeve lining that brushes clean. Because it is a lining, the cuff can be turned down and cleaned or replaced without touching the outside of the coat.

A woman’s floor-length black wool coat, fitted to the waist with a full skirt and folded-back white cuffs; the long white collar of the black shirt inside lies over its black lapels
Women’s cut: fitted, full skirt, floor length.
A man’s ankle-length double-breasted black wool greatcoat with folded-back white cuffs; the long white collar of the black shirt inside lies over its black lapels
Men’s cut: straight, double-breasted. Children’s coats are this cut made small.
Close view of a black coat collar and lapels with a long pointed white linen collar laid over them; the black shirt’s placket and buttons run down between the lapels, and a gear brooch sits at the throat
The collar is the shirt’s, laid out over the coat’s black lapels.
A folded black button-down shirt with a long, soft white linen collar spread over its shoulders
Soft, washed linen with no stiffening.

No. 2The shirt

A black button-down shirt with a long white linen collar. This collar is where all the white at the neck comes from: under the coat it is pulled out and laid flat over the coat’s black collar and lapels, and in hot weather the shirt is worn alone. The collar is soft, unstarched and without interfacing, so it lies relaxed and is comfortable all day. It is the broad white collar of the old Puritan falling band, made easy to live in.

Body
Black cotton, linen or cotton-linen, black buttons. Long sleeves with plain black shirt cuffs for cold weather; short sleeves in light linen for hot.
Collar
White linen, LONG: wide over the shoulders, with two pointed tips that reach about a third of the way down the chest (about 6–8 in, 15–20 cm, from neckband to tip). No interfacing, no starch, no collar stays.
Fastening
Sewn to the neckband as part of the shirt. If you would rather wash the two apart, the maker can fix the collar with three buttons inside the neckband instead.

Black dye can run into white linen in the wash. Ask for colourfast black cloth, have it pre-washed before cutting, and wash the shirt cold with a colour-catcher sheet.

Two sterling silver brooches shaped like a gear, one face up filled with black enamel, one face down showing its pin and safety catch
Front and back. The catch locks.

No. 3The gear brooch

Our one emblem: a plain gear with eight blunt teeth and a round hole, in black enamel on sterling silver, worn at the throat where the two collar points meet. One for everyone in the family.

Metal
Sterling silver (925).
Design
The gear in black enamel, either cut to the gear’s outline or set in a round silver disc.
Size
About 1¼–1½ in (3–4 cm) across.
Fixing
Best: a shank on the back, worn like a cufflink through a small buttonhole where the collar points meet, so one gear moves from shirt to shirt and holds the collar neat. Over the coat: a pin with a locking catch through both collars. For small children: a flat gear sewn on as the top button. Never a magnetic back on a child’s piece: two small swallowed magnets are a medical emergency.

Any jeweller who makes custom enamel pins from a logo can make this. Send them the gear as a black-on-white image and ask for sterling, not plated brass.

Cold and hot

Two outfits, not a wardrobe of seasons. When it is cold you wear the coat; when it is hot you take it off. The shirt, its white collar and the brooch are there either way, so the look holds at any temperature.

Coldcoat weather

The coat over the shirt

  • The wool coat, buttoned, its sleeves turned back to show the white cuffs.
  • The long-sleeved black shirt, its long white collar pulled out and laid over the coat’s black collar.
  • The brooch at the throat, pinned through the collar and the coat so it holds the collar in place.
  • Black leather gloves and tall black boots.
The coats of a whole family on a rail, adult to toddler, each with folded-back white cuffs and the shirt’s white collar laid over it
Hotshirt weather

The shirt alone

  • No coat. The short-sleeved black linen shirt with the same long white collar carries the look by itself.
  • The brooch at the throat of the shirt.
  • Black linen trousers or a long, full black linen skirt; black sandals.
  • Black takes in sun, so the hot-weather shirt is loose, light linen that lets the air through. The white collar sits over the shoulders, where the sun lands first.
A man, seen from the chin down, in a short-sleeved black linen shirt with a long pointed white collar and the gear brooch, black linen trousers and sandalsA woman, seen from the chin down, in a short-sleeved black linen blouse with a long pointed white collar and the gear brooch, a long full black linen skirt and sandals, holding a basket

Children: one basket per age

Five children seen from behind walking across a summer lawn toward a white farmhouse, all in short-sleeved black shirts with white collars and black shorts
Hot weather: the same shirt on every child.
Five wicker baskets in a row from small to large, each holding folded black shirts with white collars and black shorts or skirts
One basket per age range.

Children here do not outgrow their clothes. Each age range has a basket. When a child moves up a size, what they wore goes into the basket for the next child, and they take what is in the next basket up.

So children’s pieces are made once and made to last. They are unisex wherever possible: the same straight double-breasted coat and the same shirt for boys and girls. Ask for strong seams, firmly sewn buttons and a little room to grow. A piece that is only for girls or only for boys still goes to the next girl or boy in the family.

A basket holds one coat, two long-sleeved and two short-sleeved shirts, and, for the little ones, gears sewn on as the top button of their shirts.

Another way: the collar on the coat

Our collar comes from the shirt. A coat can also carry its own white collar, sewn to the neckline in the same white wool as the cuffs. This is what that looks like.

A woman’s floor-length black wool coat with its own broad white wool collar sewn to the neckline and folded-back white cuffs
Women’s cut, collar built in.
A man’s ankle-length double-breasted black wool coat with its own large pointed white wool collar sewn to the neckline and folded-back white cuffs
Men’s cut, collar built in.
Close view of a black wool coat buttoned to the throat with a white wool collar sewn to its neckline and a gear brooch at the throat
The seam where the white collar joins the coat.

With the collar on the coat, the coat looks the same over any shirt and the collar never needs laying out. But the hot-weather outfit still needs the white collar on the shirt, so you own the collar twice. A wool collar also cannot go in the wash, and from a distance the shirt collar and the coat collar look alike. We wear the shirt collar.

Having it made

You will not find this in a shop, so it is made to order. One maker can do the coats and shirts; a jeweller does the brooch. Many tailors on Etsy and in costume and historical-clothing work take commissions from a picture and a set of measurements.

PiecePer personNotes for the maker
Coat1Black wool melton, black collar; sleeve ends lined in white wool and folded back as cuffs; black buttons.
Long-sleeved shirt2Black, colourfast; long soft white linen collar, no interfacing.
Short-sleeved shirt2Black linen; the same collar.
Gear1Sterling silver, black enamel; a shank to button through the collar, or sewn on for small children.

Measurements to send

  • Height, and the length from the base of the neck to the floor.
  • Chest, waist and hips.
  • Shoulder width, and sleeve length from shoulder to wrist.
  • Neck, for the shirt.
  • For children, the measurements of the first child to wear the piece. Ask the maker to add a little room.

Ask before you order

  • Can the sleeve ends be lined in white wool and folded back, and the long collar sewn onto the shirt?
  • What wool and linen will you use, and is the black colourfast?
  • The price of each piece, and for the whole set.
  • How long it will take, and the shipping cost.
  • Made-to-measure work usually cannot be returned, so measure twice.

A message for a maker

Copy this, change the numbers to fit your family, and send it with a link to this page.

Hello! I love your work and would like to ask about a custom order.

I am looking for matching outfits for a family of [number] (two adults and [number] children):
• long black wool coats with black buttons and a plain black collar, where the end of each sleeve is lined in white wool and folded back so it shows as a deep white cuff: a fitted women's coat with a full skirt, a straight double-breasted men's coat, and the same straight coat in children's sizes;
• black button-down shirts (long-sleeved, and short-sleeved in light linen) with a long, soft white linen collar (no interfacing, not stiff) that is laid out over the coat collar.

The full description, with photographs and measurements, is here: https://technopuritan.com/wardrobe/

Could you make some or all of this? If so, what would each piece cost, how long would it take, and which measurements do you need? Thank you!

The photographs on this page are renderings of how the garments should look, made for this page; they are not photographs of a product for sale. The people in them are framed from the chin down.