Jacket 3.0 Open Source Design

[berserkbishop]

As I have said before, that jacket is stunning. I love the classic look of it. I dont do any shooting and could do without the leather shoulder pad. the addition of epaulets sounds great and I like the leather strap in the back.

BB

[kevinkinney]

Hello again,

Thank you all. I'll hazard a guess that I'm pretty close on the design. I'll make my next one and Matt's like the last one, leather and all. Then we'll see what happens.

In response to a few of the questions you've raised:

1. Leather or no leather really makes now difference in the cost. The extra price of using leather is offset by the time it takes to cut and align matching fabric for pocket welts, reinforcements, etc. Either should look fine. For now, I'll stick with leather.

2. Welt pockets, slash pockets, or bellows patch pockets are all fine. I prefer the bellows pockets, but will probably change the shape a bit to be easier to assemble.

3. I kinda like the lapels, but I'll be changing the base pattern to remove the sharp detent at the notch. This eases the seam, allows a more natural roll in the collar, and is the same collar seam shape I would use for a stand up collar. Substituting a stand up collar would be easy, but I already produce an excellent shooting jacket in a regular format. As it is, both of the jackets have extra tabs to roll the collars up for full coverage. (I wear a nice woolen scarf with mine, because it adds to the effect.)

4. Rear belt or not, the jacket is pretty well fitted. I found the belt useful because our team fell two members short, leaving me shooting twice per station, loading twice as much, and much faster to keep the field moving on the crowded day. The belt kept things in place. That said, I could add small tabs at the pocket corners to accept a removable belt.

5. Tweed is just as warm as it is breathable. The big advantage I'm trying to build in is the latter. Granted, a regular satin or acetate lining would block the wind, but it only traps sweat. I'm not gonna wear mine in August, even here in MN.

6. Epaulets it is. I'll probably make them from leather with a fabric covering.

7. If I can't find a nice brass button for the front, I'll stay with the brass snaps. They were highly functional.

Stay tuned. Once I bang off a bunch of oilskin coats, I'll be ready to craft some goodies.

Cheers,

Kevin.

[kmaclea]

Stay tuned. Once I bang off a bunch of oilskin coats, I'll be ready to craft some goodies.

I think I speak for many when I say, "Awesome!"

K=

[Finn]

Woo-hoo! Scavenging loose change now... Gotta save!

[Jack Daw]

Looks really good, Kevin. If I were you, I wouldn't forget us lefties and be prepared to put the shooting pad on the other side.

[kevinkinney]

OK,

But you have to pay in right handed money.

Kevin.

[Joe Gondek]

7. If I can't find a nice brass button for the front, I'll stay with the brass snaps. They were highly functional

Look here for brass buttons
they also come in other sizes
http://jas-townsend.com/product_info...roducts_id=315

[Jock Scot]

Hello Kevin,

I am not a tailor or a weaver,but as you know I am a user of tweed out in the shooting world and some of that world is pretty rough and rugged.I love tweed,but it does have its limitations,not many I grant you.

The one thing you ought(must really)to think about is the weight and weave of the cloth, if you dont, trouble lies ahead.If you want to have your cloth to "wear" well you should consider nothing less than a 23/24oz close woven hard tweed.Anything less and I am talking about that soft fasion type stuff here,will be in tatters if "used" in a very short while.Even the sort of tweed that we use will only last our stalkers two years at best.

Of course I doubt that you envisage your jackets taking the daily hammering that some of us give our tweed,but in my humble opinion it would be a false economy to skimp on the quality and weight of the cloth that you are intending to use.I like the colours of the tweeds that you are showing,by the way.

I hope you don't mind me chipping in and the best of luck with your enterprise.

Jock.

.

[Erisianmonkey]

The only suggestion I can really add is that rather than the pockets you are currently using, perhaps a center bellows pocket to prevent the saggy look that I seem to see on the current prototype. Other than that, it's a really nice jacket.

P.S.-If it's really "open source" does that mean you will share your "source code" i.e., your pattern with us?

[kevinkinney]

Hello All,

Summer has been hectic so far, but I'm finishing the first of our new shooting coats. This one is for Matt N., who has an interesting tale to tell about the fabric.

Here are a few shots of this edition. I'm only waiting on horn buttons and a bit of leather for the rear belt.



Here's a detail shot of the functional cuffs- 4 buttons, with leather reinforced, hand stitched button holes, and a wool suiting material to line the cuffs. The sleeves are unlined. I double stitched the elbow patch in place.



This is the bi-swing gusset on the left shoulder. It's almost 2" deep for real movement.



This is the interior, with a 3/4 length rear lining, the ends of the rear belt tabs, with telltale pedigree from the tweed selvedge left exposed for posterity sake. The lining is summer weight suiting wool. Aside from nylon thread, this suit is entirely natural. (OK, the Harris Tweed label is polyester. What were they thinking?)



Here's the front: leather reinforced button holes, shooting patch, deep welt pocket on the left chest, and leather reinforced slant pockets on the waist instead of the bulkier cargo pockets I used on the last three. I added hidden snaps to all the pockets so you can load them up w/o the weight making them 'yawn' open. I chose a soft roll lapel, with three buttons on the front, and added a tab on the left end of the collar to allow a real seal against the weather. Epaulets can be stitched on by hand later if Matt wants them. I chose a cleaner finish for now.

We saved enough textile for a matching cap!

Next up, a stately HT cape!

Happy summer all!

Kevin....who gets to make a sporran from the leftover leather....