Experiments In Casual Contemporary Style

[Bugbear]

Aye, the blue vest was, in fact, a disaster.

Thank you, though, for commenting on the picture that is still there, and for your suggestions.

[dfmacliam]

The blue west would make you visible from the air if you ever got lost at least

[Bugbear]

Well, the person taking the picture gave the vest to me, telling me it was blue and white, so I through it in the pictures. It kind of reminded me of some kind of hiking or skiing garb; I didn't know it was so... bright, but I am not surprised that it is blindingly blue. So blue that it distracted everyone from the other picture which was more important to me.

I should have put it in it's own thread called " ," and things might have come out differently.

[Bugbear]

Hee Hee, I wasn't wearing white socks and a flat cap though.

I guess the jacket works with the kilt, or at least no one has said it doesn't. It is not at all a traditional jacket, so...

I have cut that tartan swatch into a rectangle, and it looks a little better. It might be that I should cut the angled knotch out of the bottom like a garter flash; I'll keep working on it.

I guess I could add a tan colored tie...

The hose are really thigh high stockings and I am wearing them over thin, dark brown dress socks. They don't photograph well, and they are more like emergency or back up hose to avoid white hose.

Flop pictures. And that is one of the issues I am having here. It is a little difficult to get pictures, so to experiment with styles kind of falls flat on it's face if one of the pictures is bad. Can't really test many ideas.

So, I guess the kilts go back in the closet for another few months.

[dfmacliam]

Nothing is wrong with the kilts or the presentation, just the blinding blue vest. I wouldn't be so quick on putting them up, more like stand in front of a mirror and critique yourself, if you are satisfied with the look then that's good enough. Besides if you are over there in Hopi land then your biggest worry should be little Hopis looking up your kilt as you walk by, LOL. Not a very tall people over there, I lived in the Window Rock area for a few years and my kids still live there.

[Bugbear]

Nothing is wrong with the kilts or the presentation, just the blinding blue vest. I wouldn't be so quick on putting them up, more like stand in front of a mirror and critique yourself, if you are satisfied with the look then that's good enough. Besides if you are over there in Hopi land then your biggest worry should be little Hopis looking up your kilt as you walk by, LOL. Not a very tall people over there, I lived in the Window Rock area for a few years and my kids still live there.

peacekeeper83, I'm blind and I don't have anyone who can help with these things other than putting up a picture on XMTS. Like I said, the person taking the pictures is the same person who gave me the vest, so... The other day I had to put up a picture from last summer to ask a question about a shirt while also asking that the white hose, the only pair I had at the time, and other flaws be overlooked.

Anyway, I am thankful for feedback, and we know now that the vest is...

[ChattanCat]

I really like the picture of you holding the sticks. The plaid shirt and kilt look great.

[Bugbear]

I really like the picture of you holding the sticks. The plaid shirt and kilt look great.

Thanks, ChattanCat.

I've tried this plaid and kakhi look before and it seems to work well. It even works with kakhi pants.

There are several ways it could be put together. I'm not sure that shirt would go well with a tie, but I think a tie might work with the kilt. Perhaps a tweed or tartan tie on a light blue or white shirt.

I'm trying to find ways of using this kilt, though, I don't think it dresses up too much. About like what a kakhi pair of pants might be.

[Bugbear]

I have a very dark brown suit jacket and waistcoat for conversion. It needs some interfacing in the sleeves and possibly a couple of other places; not the best jacket in the world. It would be closer to the color of the brown stockings in the pictures than the corduroy.

I have been doing some pinning and origami jacket folding experiments on it. It is constructed with five seams or six panels of fabric around the body of the jacket.

Here's the issue. I am not satisfied with the flap and back vents on the standard jacket conversion. It's ok, but I think it could be done better and differently.

What I am fooling with is making long darts on either side of the jacket that form the back flap and the vents. The darts are tapered, going from widest at the bottom of the jacket and where the vent is, to nothing somewhere below the shoulder blades.

Basically, it is a pleat on either side of the jacket and there might not be a need to open any seams for the vent. The back-side seams are about where the inside crease of the pleat is, and the pleats are pinned down at the same level where the center vent, now closed, ends.

I got this idea from an British tailered suit jacket I was able to look at for just a minut or so last year. It had darts kind of like what I am working on, but I didn't get a good look at the vents from the inside.

In the pin up, it seems to work, and it also opens the possibility of using a normally fitted jacket or even a larger sized jacket. This would be for a single button, kilt jacket that is not ment to be closed, and this seems to creat the right hang in the front for that.

I, of course, have no way of knowing if it really looks all right, but it seems to work. The hang of the jacket, without the kilt length hem, is improved too because it doesnt flale out on the back-sides like most off the rack jackets do on me, though it is a two button jacket and ment to be closeable.

Just thought it was interesting, and I'll keep tinkering with it.

[Bugbear]

Here are some pictures of that jacket I'm talking about.
* pictures removed *

The bottom of the jacket is folded and pinned up inside of the jacket, and in the second picture I have folded the area back where the cutaway will be.

This is how I start mapping out what I am going to do to the jacket.

A little while ago, I trimmed off the bottom of the jacket to the hem allowance accept for the back panels. I needed a little extra allowance for my experiment with the darts, so right now it has tails.

It's not a really good jacket, but something to practice on.