The historical jacket is finished

 To finish the jacket it needed some way to close it. For this I picked hooks and eyes. I needed a way to close it that would work from both sides, so buttons or a loose lacing strip on one side wouldn't work.

The hooks and eyes were Prym size 3 in black, the biggest that I could find in the regular sewing shops. I sewed them to a loose strip of wool. I also alternated the hooks and eyes, that really makes a difference in how they stay shut and don't slide up.

I sandwiched the hook and eye strip between the outer fabrics. I chose to put them correct for the black side, since that's going to be the "nice" side. That means that I will have to close the pink side backwards, it's a bit more fiddly but it doesn't really show when being worn. I also sewed a seam connecting all three layers to each other a few cm in from the edge. That is to make the strain more even when I close the hook and eye.

The box of hooks and eyes that I bought only contained 12 pais, but that was enough to make the closure go down to the waist.

The jacket looks really loose and unshapely over my dressform, that really isn't close to my own bodyshape anymore. I did wear it for an even with friends outside though and it fit perfectly over my shift, mustard kirtle and green longsleeved gown. Unfortunately it was too dark outside so I didn't get any photos of me wearing it.

I'm really happy with the end result, and now I have a jacket that I can easily pull on over my clothes when it gets cold at events.