arbilad wrote:

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My son wants to dress up as an american revolutionary for Halloween. Now is the time to begin if we want to start sewing a costume. Does anyone know of any revolutionary war outfits that could be adjusted to a 12 year old boy? Jason, would you know of any resources?

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I don't know anyone in your neck of the woods but if you are looking for patterns I know of two sources that sell patterns for the time period.  One is G. Gedney Godwin at http://www.gggodwin.com/ .  The other Jas. Townsend and Son at http://www.jastown.com/  Obviously for a Halloween costume you don't need to go all out like the reenacting community but you could use a pattern as a guide.  A basic soldier no matter what army wore 8 main articles of clothing no matter what side he was on.  The materials at the time were either wool or linen but for a Halloween costume you can substitute cotton or some modern equivilent.  A soldier would wear a regimental coat (the blue one you see in the movies), a long sleeve pull over shirt (similar to what you see in some of the paintings of Joseph Smith and the other pioneers) with a collar, a wescut or vest over that, breeches or short like pants that go down to the knees, long socks that went up above the knees (You can probably use just really long   plain white toob socks, gaiters or spaterdashers which were leather or canvas coverings that went over the ankles and shins, and simple black shoes.  For the spaterdashers you can probably make something out of regular black material.  For the shoes just plain black dress shoes underneath will work for a Halloween impression.  If going as a colonial soldier the typical hat would be a tricorn.  The rebel mobs though often had a smattering of different militia type outfits.  Common to most would be the shirt, wescut or vest, breeches, long socks, and the shoes.  A hunting frock might be worn instead of the shirt and wescut.  Hats for the non regulars might be the tricorner hat, a wide brim hat, stocking cap, etc.  A rebel of scottish decent might even wear a highland bonnet.  On those two websites you can see some different examples.  With the American impression you have several different options.  If he is looking at a one time Halloween thing you could probably make a regular army blue coat out of something like felt.  I hope this helps.  Let me know if you have any questions.  There are lots of paintings and pictures of soldiers on the web that you can use to help give you ideas of how to put something together.  You many notice on those two websites that you can purchase clothing also but for a Halloween costume, I wouldn't recommend it because they are expensive.  The hats aren't too bad though.  The clothing is so expensive because it has to use original materials such as wool and linen, be correct in pattern, colors, and fit, and mostly because it is all hand made without the benefits of a modern child labor Tijianna sweat shop.