Escaping the Black Argyll

[Troglodyte]

My jacket arrived yesterday!

I couldn't be more pleased.

Not only does the tweed itself look much nicer in person than in the online image (like all tweeds and tartans do) the overall colour-effect is halfway between my two favourite Marton Mills swatches- Plover and Dunlin Coffee.

I simply couldn't visualise Marton Mills Multicheck done up in a jacket, and it's stunning.

It's risky buying a bespoke jacket because you can't try it on beforehand, however the fit is perfection. St Kilda offers "piper's cut" jackets, with the arm-holes more circular than oval, allowing your arms more range of motion (as when doing Highland Tenor Drumming or Drum Major flourishing) and allowing pipers to shove the bag up into the armpit. That's the cut I got.

No time yet to wear a Highland outfit, but just now I laid out the jacket with three of my kilts, and as you can see the jacket looks fantastic with all of them.
L-R
-Hunting Stewart Weathered (Marton Mills 16oz tweed)

-Isle Of Skye (Lochcarron 16oz)

-Drummond Of Perth Muted (House Of Edgar 13oz)



Here's a closeup which shows off the jacket's lovely colours more accurately

The high position of the 'piper's cut' jacket is interesting to know.

It sounds quite a lot like what I have specified (much against the tailor's inclinations) when I have had jackets made in the past. With those, I have had the arm-hole cut higher, and have had a 'gusset' placed in the under-arm seam.

The gusset allows the arm to be raised to shoulder height or more, without the irritating pulling up of the body of the jacket. A box-pleat in the rear centre seam, or at the shoulders transforms the wearability of the jacket hugely.

I guess the piper's cut does the same thing.