Five Star Leather Jackets

[Carlos840]

Agreed there are some distinct differences, most notably the collar angle. Wish I could do a fit compare...the original was a size 38” from eBay that I screen grabbed!

Oh, i thought the OG was one of the vintage jackets you had bought recently, my bad.

 

[ton312]

Oh, i thought the OG was one of the vintage jackets you had bought recently, my bad.

Man I wish. Had that been my size I highly doubt this jacket would’ve even been a thought.

 

[MrProper]

i have been dreaming of a toggle lock jacket since i saw them on that old D-1 a while back, i really look forward to seeing yours too.

me too *lol*

I hope the jacket will be as good as this old D1, even if it will of course still look too new.
And hopefully I have taken the right measurements and they will be kept.
Always exciting.

 

[TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead]

Drum roll please. Eagle has landed. The Mr. Proper/Amelia Earhart/G1 special.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased. Thank you to Mr. Proper because I think my creation would have gone sideways very quickly without having his reference points. There's a lot of details you can't assume.

Leather (prem steer seal)-- it's hard to tell at this point. Definitely needs a good 40 hours break in to see how it starts to drape and distresses, but looks promising. Soft to touch, little stretchy. Nice grain already. But not as thick as I was expecting. I think others have said it, but the leather is good quality, but is kind of "blah".

Build. Stitches look clean, zipper straight (maybe a bigger zipper size next time), knitting in good shape. Lining is great going from cotton in body to satin in sleeves. All good.

Fit. Overall, it fits really well. My biggest mistake was probably sleeve length. I need to reference some photos, but I think I should have went a little longer so the leather end hits closer to the wrist and the knitting tucks in more. Don't know if that's a preference thing or actually how it's supposed to be, but it feels like I could have used another .5 inch on the sleeve length. Probably could use a .25 more on my shoulders and a .25 less on my abdomen area, but it's pretty snug. Was a little worried about the length based on what some of you had said, but it's good for me. Maybe a .25 less if I had to do over again. The sleeve taper is pretty aggressive from bicep to forearm. I might play with that next time.

The verdict. I ended up paying an extra $30 bucks twice for changes, one my fault, the other was kind of their fault but lost in communication sort of thing. So was $330. At $330, I'm pretty happy. I'd be more happy at $270

Would I do again? Need to think about it more. If it's creating something from scratch and mixing/matching some styles and ideas in my head, I think so. It was fun to design something and see it come to life.

If I was buying one of their off the shelf models and just adjusting for size, for sure. You can probably get a very nice jacket for $250 or less.

If it's trying to replicate a "known" jacket for cheap (i.e. having them build a complete knock off of a high end brand), probably not. I think the $300ish is better off going into what you want and getting the higher end leather and craftsmanship that comes with it.

Other info. From the leather samples he sent me, I'd probably go with Black Goat next. Good grain, thick, feels good. The Goat Cognic (sic) is interesting too if they have in thicker size. The sample was too thin, but the color is more caramel than the very light tan you see on their website. The Goat Seal semi veg has got great tea core potential, but it's super stretchy. Make sure you accommodate for size breaking in. He never sent me distressed goat or buffalo, so no clue.

 

[Hobbes1]

Drum roll please. Eagle has landed. The Mr. Proper/Amelia Earhart/G1 special.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased. Thank you to Mr. Proper because I think my creation would have gone sideways very quickly without having his reference points. There's a lot of details you can't assume.

Leather (prem steer seal)-- it's hard to tell at this point. Definitely needs a good 40 hours break in to see how it starts to drape and distresses, but looks promising. Soft to touch, little stretchy. Nice grain already. But not as thick as I was expecting. I think others have said it, but the leather is good quality, but is kind of "blah".

Build. Stitches look clean, zipper straight (maybe a bigger zipper size next time), knitting in good shape. Lining is great going from cotton in body to satin in sleeves. All good.

Fit. Overall, it fits really well. My biggest mistake was probably sleeve length. I need to reference some photos, but I think I should have went a little longer so the leather end hits closer to the wrist and the knitting tucks in more. Don't know if that's a preference thing or actually how it's supposed to be, but it feels like I could have used another .5 inch on the sleeve length. Probably could use a .25 more on my shoulders and a .25 less on my abdomen area, but it's pretty snug. Was a little worried about the length based on what some of you had said, but it's good for me. Maybe a .25 less if I had to do over again. The sleeve taper is pretty aggressive from bicep to forearm. I might play with that next time.

The verdict. I ended up paying an extra $30 bucks twice for changes, one my fault, the other was kind of their fault but lost in communication sort of thing. So was $330. At $330, I'm pretty happy. I'd be more happy at $270

Would I do again? Need to think about it more. If it's creating something from scratch and mixing/matching some styles and ideas in my head, I think so. It was fun to design something and see it come to life.

If I was buying one of their off the shelf models and just adjusting for size, for sure. You can probably get a very nice jacket for $250 or less.

If it's trying to replicate a "known" jacket for cheap (i.e. having them build a complete knock off of a high end brand), probably not. I think the $300ish is better off going into what you want and getting the higher end leather and craftsmanship that comes with it.

Other info. From the leather samples he sent me, I'd probably go with Black Goat next. Good grain, thick, feels good. The Goat Cognic (sic) is interesting too if they have in thicker size. The sample was too thin, but the color is more caramel than the very light tan you see on their website. The Goat Seal semi veg has got great tea core potential, but it's super stretchy. Make sure you accommodate for size breaking in. He never sent me distressed goat or buffalo, so no clue.

Looks very good! I like the contrasting stitching as well. I would possibly have the sleeves just a bit longer as you say, but it doesn't look bad at all. Well done!

 

[TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead]

Looks very good! I like the contrasting stitching as well. I would possibly have the sleeves just a bit longer as you say, but it doesn't look bad at all. Well done!

just noticed how the photo has it really contrasting. Maybe how sun was hitting it. It's a little more subtle in person. I went with olive against the seal brown.

yeah, I looked at a bunch of photos. Seems like some people have the sleeve come down more and use less knit, but others have like I have. Another .5 inch next time for sure for my tastes.​

 

[ton312]

just noticed how the photo has it really contrasting. Maybe how sun was hitting it. It's a little more subtle in person. I went with olive against the seal brown.

yeah, I looked at a bunch of photos. Seems like some people have the sleeve come down more and use less knit, but others have like I have. Another .5 inch next time for sure for my tastes.​

I think it looks great and the collar adjustment on your part was a good call. Hopefully my Halfbelt lands tomorrow and I can update here as well. In general though I think your thoughts echo mine to a T.

 

[Jin431]

Drum roll please. Eagle has landed. The Mr. Proper/Amelia Earhart/G1 special.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased. Thank you to Mr. Proper because I think my creation would have gone sideways very quickly without having his reference points. There's a lot of details you can't assume.

Leather (prem steer seal)-- it's hard to tell at this point. Definitely needs a good 40 hours break in to see how it starts to drape and distresses, but looks promising. Soft to touch, little stretchy. Nice grain already. But not as thick as I was expecting. I think others have said it, but the leather is good quality, but is kind of "blah".

Build. Stitches look clean, zipper straight (maybe a bigger zipper size next time), knitting in good shape. Lining is great going from cotton in body to satin in sleeves. All good.

Fit. Overall, it fits really well. My biggest mistake was probably sleeve length. I need to reference some photos, but I think I should have went a little longer so the leather end hits closer to the wrist and the knitting tucks in more. Don't know if that's a preference thing or actually how it's supposed to be, but it feels like I could have used another .5 inch on the sleeve length. Probably could use a .25 more on my shoulders and a .25 less on my abdomen area, but it's pretty snug. Was a little worried about the length based on what some of you had said, but it's good for me. Maybe a .25 less if I had to do over again. The sleeve taper is pretty aggressive from bicep to forearm. I might play with that next time.

The verdict. I ended up paying an extra $30 bucks twice for changes, one my fault, the other was kind of their fault but lost in communication sort of thing. So was $330. At $330, I'm pretty happy. I'd be more happy at $270

Would I do again? Need to think about it more. If it's creating something from scratch and mixing/matching some styles and ideas in my head, I think so. It was fun to design something and see it come to life.

If I was buying one of their off the shelf models and just adjusting for size, for sure. You can probably get a very nice jacket for $250 or less.

If it's trying to replicate a "known" jacket for cheap (i.e. having them build a complete knock off of a high end brand), probably not. I think the $300ish is better off going into what you want and getting the higher end leather and craftsmanship that comes with it.

Other info. From the leather samples he sent me, I'd probably go with Black Goat next. Good grain, thick, feels good. The Goat Cognic (sic) is interesting too if they have in thicker size. The sample was too thin, but the color is more caramel than the very light tan you see on their website. The Goat Seal semi veg has got great tea core potential, but it's super stretchy. Make sure you accommodate for size breaking in. He never sent me distressed goat or buffalo, so no clue.

Looks good on you! I agree with the sleeves maybe needing a little bit more length. You are also correct with the seal goatskin being a little stretchy, the waist/hem on my trucker stretched but in a good way as I had listed it half an inch slimmer than my denim jacket. Great assessment overall, still a good deal if you know what you are after.

 

[CBI]

looking great

 

[Bahabp100]

Drum roll please. Eagle has landed. The Mr. Proper/Amelia Earhart/G1 special.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased. Thank you to Mr. Proper because I think my creation would have gone sideways very quickly without having his reference points. There's a lot of details you can't assume.

Leather (prem steer seal)-- it's hard to tell at this point. Definitely needs a good 40 hours break in to see how it starts to drape and distresses, but looks promising. Soft to touch, little stretchy. Nice grain already. But not as thick as I was expecting. I think others have said it, but the leather is good quality, but is kind of "blah".

Build. Stitches look clean, zipper straight (maybe a bigger zipper size next time), knitting in good shape. Lining is great going from cotton in body to satin in sleeves. All good.

Fit. Overall, it fits really well. My biggest mistake was probably sleeve length. I need to reference some photos, but I think I should have went a little longer so the leather end hits closer to the wrist and the knitting tucks in more. Don't know if that's a preference thing or actually how it's supposed to be, but it feels like I could have used another .5 inch on the sleeve length. Probably could use a .25 more on my shoulders and a .25 less on my abdomen area, but it's pretty snug. Was a little worried about the length based on what some of you had said, but it's good for me. Maybe a .25 less if I had to do over again. The sleeve taper is pretty aggressive from bicep to forearm. I might play with that next time.

The verdict. I ended up paying an extra $30 bucks twice for changes, one my fault, the other was kind of their fault but lost in communication sort of thing. So was $330. At $330, I'm pretty happy. I'd be more happy at $270

Would I do again? Need to think about it more. If it's creating something from scratch and mixing/matching some styles and ideas in my head, I think so. It was fun to design something and see it come to life.

If I was buying one of their off the shelf models and just adjusting for size, for sure. You can probably get a very nice jacket for $250 or less.

If it's trying to replicate a "known" jacket for cheap (i.e. having them build a complete knock off of a high end brand), probably not. I think the $300ish is better off going into what you want and getting the higher end leather and craftsmanship that comes with it.

Other info. From the leather samples he sent me, I'd probably go with Black Goat next. Good grain, thick, feels good. The Goat Cognic (sic) is interesting too if they have in thicker size. The sample was too thin, but the color is more caramel than the very light tan you see on their website. The Goat Seal semi veg has got great tea core potential, but it's super stretchy. Make sure you accommodate for size breaking in. He never sent me distressed goat or buffalo, so no clue.

It looks pretty solid and pretty great
fit looks fine especially if you only off by .25 or .5 here and there

 

[MrProper]

Drum roll please. Eagle has landed. The Mr. Proper/Amelia Earhart/G1 special.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased. Thank you to Mr. Proper because I think my creation would have gone sideways very quickly without having his reference points. There's a lot of details you can't assume.

Leather (prem steer seal)-- it's hard to tell at this point. Definitely needs a good 40 hours break in to see how it starts to drape and distresses, but looks promising. Soft to touch, little stretchy. Nice grain already. But not as thick as I was expecting. I think others have said it, but the leather is good quality, but is kind of "blah".

Build. Stitches look clean, zipper straight (maybe a bigger zipper size next time), knitting in good shape. Lining is great going from cotton in body to satin in sleeves. All good.

Fit. Overall, it fits really well. My biggest mistake was probably sleeve length. I need to reference some photos, but I think I should have went a little longer so the leather end hits closer to the wrist and the knitting tucks in more. Don't know if that's a preference thing or actually how it's supposed to be, but it feels like I could have used another .5 inch on the sleeve length. Probably could use a .25 more on my shoulders and a .25 less on my abdomen area, but it's pretty snug. Was a little worried about the length based on what some of you had said, but it's good for me. Maybe a .25 less if I had to do over again. The sleeve taper is pretty aggressive from bicep to forearm. I might play with that next time.

The verdict. I ended up paying an extra $30 bucks twice for changes, one my fault, the other was kind of their fault but lost in communication sort of thing. So was $330. At $330, I'm pretty happy. I'd be more happy at $270

Would I do again? Need to think about it more. If it's creating something from scratch and mixing/matching some styles and ideas in my head, I think so. It was fun to design something and see it come to life.

If I was buying one of their off the shelf models and just adjusting for size, for sure. You can probably get a very nice jacket for $250 or less.

If it's trying to replicate a "known" jacket for cheap (i.e. having them build a complete knock off of a high end brand), probably not. I think the $300ish is better off going into what you want and getting the higher end leather and craftsmanship that comes with it.

Other info. From the leather samples he sent me, I'd probably go with Black Goat next. Good grain, thick, feels good. The Goat Cognic (sic) is interesting too if they have in thicker size. The sample was too thin, but the color is more caramel than the very light tan you see on their website. The Goat Seal semi veg has got great tea core potential, but it's super stretchy. Make sure you accommodate for size breaking in. He never sent me distressed goat or buffalo, so no clue.

with pleasure
It looks really good in the photos. The sleeves could actually be a bit longer, but I still think it's ok and resembles many older pictures of various flight jackets. The advantage of the narrow sleeves is that a shorter length is less noticeable than with wide sleeves, I think.

 

[TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead]

Thank you all for kind remarks. It was a community project : )

But, first chink in the armor. That "I like that contrasting stitching" remark got me thinking. I went back to my notes and realized they screwed up. They sent me either cognac or tan stitching. What's weird is part of it was done in the green. I'm actually not happy now because I just got an Aero jacket with the same contrast stitching so albeit this is different design, it kind of looks the same. And more importantly, they used two different color threads. Ughh. Wrote Shawn to see what we can do.

 

[sweetfights]

Drum roll please. Eagle has landed. The Mr. Proper/Amelia Earhart/G1 special.

Overall, I'm pretty pleased. Thank you to Mr. Proper because I think my creation would have gone sideways very quickly without having his reference points. There's a lot of details you can't assume.

Leather (prem steer seal)-- it's hard to tell at this point. Definitely needs a good 40 hours break in to see how it starts to drape and distresses, but looks promising. Soft to touch, little stretchy. Nice grain already. But not as thick as I was expecting. I think others have said it, but the leather is good quality, but is kind of "blah".

Build. Stitches look clean, zipper straight (maybe a bigger zipper size next time), knitting in good shape. Lining is great going from cotton in body to satin in sleeves. All good.

Fit. Overall, it fits really well. My biggest mistake was probably sleeve length. I need to reference some photos, but I think I should have went a little longer so the leather end hits closer to the wrist and the knitting tucks in more. Don't know if that's a preference thing or actually how it's supposed to be, but it feels like I could have used another .5 inch on the sleeve length. Probably could use a .25 more on my shoulders and a .25 less on my abdomen area, but it's pretty snug. Was a little worried about the length based on what some of you had said, but it's good for me. Maybe a .25 less if I had to do over again. The sleeve taper is pretty aggressive from bicep to forearm. I might play with that next time.

The verdict. I ended up paying an extra $30 bucks twice for changes, one my fault, the other was kind of their fault but lost in communication sort of thing. So was $330. At $330, I'm pretty happy. I'd be more happy at $270

Would I do again? Need to think about it more. If it's creating something from scratch and mixing/matching some styles and ideas in my head, I think so. It was fun to design something and see it come to life.

If I was buying one of their off the shelf models and just adjusting for size, for sure. You can probably get a very nice jacket for $250 or less.

If it's trying to replicate a "known" jacket for cheap (i.e. having them build a complete knock off of a high end brand), probably not. I think the $300ish is better off going into what you want and getting the higher end leather and craftsmanship that comes with it.

Other info. From the leather samples he sent me, I'd probably go with Black Goat next. Good grain, thick, feels good. The Goat Cognic (sic) is interesting too if they have in thicker size. The sample was too thin, but the color is more caramel than the very light tan you see on their website. The Goat Seal semi veg has got great tea core potential, but it's super stretchy. Make sure you accommodate for size breaking in. He never sent me distressed goat or buffalo, so no clue.

Looks Great. Enjoy!!

 

[MrProper]

Thank you all for kind remarks. It was a community project : )

But, first chink in the armor. That "I like that contrasting stitching" remark got me thinking. I went back to my notes and realized they screwed up. They sent me either cognac or tan stitching. What's weird is part of it was done in the green. I'm actually not happy now because I just got an Aero jacket with the same contrast stitching so albeit this is different design, it kind of looks the same. And more importantly, they used two different color threads. Ughh. Wrote Shawn to see what we can do.

This is really very annoying. I am curious which solution you will find.

 

[Marc mndt]

This is really very annoying. I am curious which solution you will find.

For me this would not be acceptable. To be honest, I was already surprised they charged extra for altering the collar height. It was ridiculously high. I can't imagine you specifically asked for it, so in my eyes it was a mistake from their side which they should have corrected without extra cost.

 

[Marc mndt]

Thank you all for kind remarks. It was a community project : )

But, first chink in the armor. That "I like that contrasting stitching" remark got me thinking. I went back to my notes and realized they screwed up. They sent me either cognac or tan stitching. What's weird is part of it was done in the green. I'm actually not happy now because I just got an Aero jacket with the same contrast stitching so albeit this is different design, it kind of looks the same. And more importantly, they used two different color threads. Ughh. Wrote Shawn to see what we can do.

Now that I look at it more closely, I think I see another green thread right here:

Maybe they used two different thread colors, one for the top and one for the bottom.

I find it difficult to explain because I've never even touched a sewing machine so obviously I don't know what I'm talking about. Here's a piece of leather with stitch lines in green beige red and brown on top (photo on the right) while having a blue thread on the back side ( photo on the left)

They stitched the hanging loop from the inside, maybe that's why you see the bottom thread (green) on the outside.

 

[MrProper]

Now that I look at it more closely, I think I see another green thread right here:
View attachment 272502

Maybe they used two different thread colors, one for the top and one for the bottom.

I find it difficult to explain because I've never even touched a sewing machine so obviously I don't know what I'm talking about. Here's a piece of leather with stitch lines in green beige red and brown on top (photo on the right) while having a blue thread on the back side ( photo on the left)
View attachment 272501

They stitched the hanging loop from the inside, maybe that's why you see the bottom thread (green) on the outside.

I think they just took the wrong thread when reduce the size of the collar and that little green one is a remnant of it.
If I got it right, should the jacket have been in a different contrasting color anyway?

 

[Marc mndt]

I think they just took the wrong thread when reduce the size of the collar and that little green one is a remnant of it.
If I got it right, should the jacket have been in a different contrasting color anyway?

I think @regius knows a thing or two about sewing. Maybe has an idea what's going on here.

 

[TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead]

yeah, there's a top stitch and bottom? stitch. Not sure on the terminology, but the thread that feeds through the machine, and the thread from the bobbin. At least in traditional sewing, not sure if a leather machine is different.

I know this is one of those things only perfectionists will care about, but it does bug me. More so that some of the details are green but most of the threading is tan. I definitely wanted contrast, but with the olive was going to be more subtle. Nothing wrong with the tan, like I said I just bought Aero Sheene with same exact style. But was going after a different look here.

And not to pile on, but I caught another mistake. On one of the pockets, it looks like some of the pattern paper is still attached. It's barely noticeable, only from the top looking down, but like one of those things, once you see it, your eyes keep going there. Looks like they had a bad day with my jacket I guess. We'll see. Either remake it and take that opportunity to make sleeve another .75 longer, or maybe if they give me a partial credit, I'll keep what I got and call it a day.

 

[Marc mndt]

I would be more surprised if these kinds of things didn't happen. We've all become very used to precision from the high craft jacket makers.

I agree, this is not a high end jacket so perfection is not to be expected. But still, $330 is a considerable amount of money for a non-brand jacket.