converting a leather jacket to a winter jacket

[schitzo]

Fellas, I need some expertise please

I love my FQHH 50s Halfbelt but it is a little big on. I recently had the idea of adding a shearling lining to make it suitable for winter wear. We are talking about English winters here not the North Pole

What I want to be careful of is not to overdo it. At the minute I have little idea about the thickness of shearling required (I did a bit of reading and 1/4 inch seemed like it could be the ticket.. or then again maybe not) and also of how much weight this would add.

I am not committed to this happening yet, just wish to explore the possibility with some of those in the know to see if it's viable. I'm also curious about cost - if anyone knows - and also about what should happen to the sleeves.

Thanks in adavance
Schitz

 

[wdw]

A thick, warm lining would dramatically decrease the amount of wearable time outside winter.

Why not just wear a thick jumper and have flexibility?

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I had an Aero Longshoreman for several years. FQHH..probably 1/4 shearling lined. Finally sold it on because I only wore it when it was around freezing or below. Now on occasion I layer a lightly insulated sleeveless vest under some of my Aero jackets during the colder winter months. Works well.
HD

 

[schitzo]

The idea is to have it for when it is really cold here, which is probably only December, Jan & Feb. I am not sure of the precise temperatures I am talking about - maybe someone who is can chime in - but sometimes in London it is pretty cold. On those occasions I wear a big ol duck feather coat which does the job. If it's not really cold I can easily overheat in that thing.

So I'm thinking about replacing that one with this. I like the idea of just wearing it with a shirt only and still being warm enough.

But obviously caution here is the order of the day.

For the rest of the year, don worry chaps, I have enough jackets!

 

[schitzo]

Why not just wear a thick jumper and have flexibility?

I'm not ruling this out WDW, just wanna look at the possible alternatives

 

[schitzo]

I had an Aero Longshoreman for several years. FQHH..probably 1/4 shearling lined.

how heavy was the longshoreman in comparison to the others?

 

[Sloan1874]

How about a Strome weight tartan lining? Could give you a bit more flexibility.

 

[simonc]

You know I am glad you asked this. I am about to do the same. I have a lovely black Hercules Aero and the alpaca has gone, also i need to rezip it. So it is going back to Aero. It has a black mutton collar and I am going to go for a shearling refit, in black, like the jacket and the collar which i may also replace. The jacket has broken in over the past five years and moves well. So I am hoping the shearling will work, besides its only the arms i need to use. I live in London and I quite agree, some days here you really do need this kind of protection, and since i have other jackets I thought why not max this one out. How did it work out for you guys, have you had a shearling fitted? I'm thinking of going full retard with a 3/4 lining.

 

[Edward]

I've got an ELC 42 pattern Irvin ans a Lost Worlds B3, and both get very regular wear in London from Novemberish through to Februaryish... this year I was still wearing the B3 in early March. Brr. Had my eye on a shearling lined HWM for some time, as much as anything because I fancy a black shearling type, don't fancy the look of the commercial options available, and the Luftwaffe repros are expensive and hard to find. Be a long time before I have the cash, but I'd have no hesitation in saying it's be worth it for the Winter months.

 

[Swoosed]

I have an HG-5 thats has extra room and just got a quote from alexanders to put a 1/2" sheepskin liner in it. i'm going for it in the fall.

 

[ButteMT61]

If you had one jacket, I'd caution against it. Also, do you get cold easily? You may or may not be as tough as HD (in the "i can stand cold sense") and I know I've grown thin-blooded living in SoCal. I love cold, but also need to bundle up more when it is. If you're the kind of guy that runs around in a T-shirt when it's cold out, then you're different than a guy that wears a jacket when it's 70° out.
That makes a difference too...

 

[schitzo]

I'm generally OK with cold and am usually under wrapped


@Edward, swooshed and anyone else who's already been down this road:

How thick should the shearling be? Also what about the sleeves? Now they've just got cotton drill. Should I reline with something else, or two layers of something else, and if so what should that something be? Also, what about storm cuffs? Remember, I don't wanna overdo it and be too hot in there. Perhaps 1 layer of something warmer + storm cuffs, or 2 layers and no storm cuffs, or maybe 2 layers + storm cuffs - any thoughts?

 

[rocketeer]

Here's something I did, not to a leather jacket but the same principal.
Buy an old clean sheepskin coat such as an old car coat. Cut off the arms, then trim the arm holes, sides and length till it sits just inside the zip area and feels comfortable.
You could get some poppers similar to those on a B3 collar put in or even zips similar to bike jackets with removable liners.
Basically its a zip in body warmer.
J

 

[Capesofwrath]

The Aero shearling lined coats don't have it in the sleeves. I had a shearling FQHH Barnstormer until recently, and that was a heavy coat, and maybe because the hide is cold in winter it didn't really feel as warm as my trusty twenty five year old Cirrus B3. It might have been the hassle of doing up buttons in stiff HH though leading me to leave it unbuttoned a lot of the time. As it happens I was thinking about changing to a sheepskin lining in a jacket I have on order too, and probably for the same reason with winter hanging on like it is here.

I don't think a shearling lining limits winter use that much. What does is wearing a heavy sheepskin coat when it's mild and looking silly. Or getting it wet which is pain with sheepskin, but not with a sheepskin lining under FQHH. I only wear the B3 when its cold and dry or blowing a cold wind and dry. If it's averagely cold then you just wear less under a shearling lined leather jacket, and because the lining is hidden you stay warm and no one can see you're wearing sheepskin. A main drawback of the Shearling Barnstormer was that it looked very much the heavy winter coat that it is, and I ended up looking like a pilot who'd just landed his Vickers Vimy in Tesco's car park. You could only really carry a coat like that off when it was cold enough. Which where I live it usually isn't. Unless you really do fly open cockpit aeroplanes in winter of course.

 

[Worf]

This is what I'm going to do. I feel the same way you do about having a leather jacket with some Shearling for those cold but not cold enough for an Irvin days. I'm going at it a different way though... rather than touch any of my "good stuff" I scored an old Schott 685 without a lining in it for peanuts.

I intend to have Mr. Dover at U.S. Authentic put short shearling in the upper body, satin or drill in the sleeves and a 2 inch leather hem at the bottom. The 685 originally had quilted liner. In the end I get a semi custom leahter jacket I can wear in late fall, early winter with strangling in an Irvin. This might be a different way to go.

Worf

 

[Capesofwrath]

I've been thinking of buying a HWM on eBay and getting a shearling lining put in for a while. The black ones don't seem to be fetching a lot right now. I reckon everyone else might be thinking the same thing though judging by these comments. Has anyone asked how much Aero would charge yet? I can ask myself of course but if anyone else has done it already please share.

 

[Fanch]

Worf, it is unreal how you find one bargain jacket after another. It has got to be great being you!

 

[schitzo]

dunno what the quote is yet but atm I am leaning that way. I mean, how warm can a bit of shearling be?

Am still at square one with the sleeves tho..

 

[schitzo]

How about a Strome weight tartan lining? Could give you a bit more flexibility.

I'm not sure how heavyweight that stuff it Sloan. But surely that under leather on top of a shirt wouldn't be sufficient for a bitterly cold winter's evening?

 

[Worf]

Worf, it is unreal how you find one bargain jacket after another. It has got to be great being you!

Not hardly.... remember the ole saying... "A Scot is thrifty... a Klingon is cheap!" You never know or see the bargain jackets that never get worn, get sold on the bay or given to relatives or "Goodwill". The 4 or 5 "keepers" I have represent a lot more "sweepers" I lost money and time on. Trust me.....

Worf