Gentlemen, show us what you've made!

[LoveMyHats2]

Hey guys,

I'd like some advice from the men around here.

My dad is a surprisingly fashion-and-style conscious person and appearance and grooming mean a lot to him. I suppose that's where I get my own style from. But he complains on a regular basis that my shirts don't stay tucked in like they should be.

To remedy this, I was thinking of MAKING a pair of shirt-stays. You know, those things that you wear, that hook onto your shirt-tails, and then trail down inside your trousers, to your socks?

These things:

I have some old clip-on braces that i don't use, and I figured, I could recycle the straps, clips and sliders from those, to make myself a pair of shirt-stays. Does anyone have any tips? How long should I make them? Should i include slider-clips, or should they be sans-clips (like what you see in the photo up there).

Nothing wrong with making or buying something that clips to straps and all that, but, you can simply sew some fabric on the inside of your waistband that will "grab" the shirt a bit more and help keep it tucked in. A few pairs of my pants already have something stating they will keep shirts tucked in, and when I feel the inside of the waistband it feels like a material is soft and in some pattern at an angle! Perhaps someone else would know what that material is exactly and can post that here, I have no real clue what it is! Just wanted to let you know this as it may give you some options! In my opinion, to have to wear what you are going to make, is like well, wearing a parachute and not jumping out of the plane! lol! A whole lot of stuff to wear and for why? The material in the inside of the waistband may be something that is like a foam/sponge feel, but I just don't know exactly what it is? But is sure does "grab" your shirt. Some silk pants made by Tommy Bahama have this in the waistband, and I have the same thing in a few higher end pants from Zegna and Zanella, and even a few pair of Brooks Brothers pants. I have even seen on eBay once in a blue moon, shirts that say they will stay tucked in (dress white shirts) as I think they must have some of the same material on the bottom hem of the shirts?

Now that rig you are making would hold up your socks, keep your shirt tucked in and whatever else you may want to "attach" to the straps...may be useful if you are planning on concealing a machine gun down your pant leg....?

 

[Gin&Tonics]

The other risk of those kind of shirt stays is that if they let go of your socks, your "sensitive parts" could be in for a high velocity meeting with the metal grippers, which could be, needless to say, unpleasant.

 

[Nick D]

The other risk of those kind of shirt stays is that if they let go of your socks, your "sensitive parts" could be in for a high velocity meeting with the metal grippers, which could be, needless to say, unpleasant.

I don't think there's really that much risk of that, there won't be that much tension and friction/trajectory would protect parts.

For what it's worth, I've read (somewhere on the FL, I think) that if the stay is wrapped around the leg, say from back of the shirt to front of the sock or something similar, they work better.

 

[Bugsy]

I don't think there's really that much risk of that, there won't be that much tension and friction/trajectory would protect parts.

For what it's worth, I've read (somewhere on the FL, I think) that if the stay is wrapped around the leg, say from back of the shirt to front of the sock or something similar, they work better.

That is what servicemen in the US do when wearing their dress uniforms.

 

[Rudie]

WHy not buy shirts that fit in the first place? If you have high armholes there's no need for such devices, as the shirts won't ride up anyway.

 

[Fastuni]

From a "scrap"-piece of thick wool cloth I made this 8-panel cap... (my first)
matching the fabric of a 30's sports suit I wear during these colder days.

The fold in the front is from handling the cap after some rain/snow...

...

Out of a shapeless, sullen old fur felt hat (no lining, markings or ribbon) that I found at a flea market, I made this Fedora. After a thorough wash and reblocking the felt shows again some amazing properties... thick, smooth and a bit "spongy". Very good as a hard-wearing "beater" for everyday wear.

Best Regards

 

[Mario]

Nice job, especially the cap. What did you use for the peak?

I see you have your own label already with the hat taken from your avatar, right?

 

[Fastuni]

Thanks! The peak is made from extremely hard cardboard taken from a very old "Leitz"- file binder.
Through and through a scrap-salvage project... I just hate waste. The hat leather is also from a belt that would have gone to the trash bin otherwise.

As to the label... well spotted, I just couldn't leave the interior blank.

 

[flat-top]

From a "scrap"-piece of thick wool cloth I made this 8-panel cap... (my first)
matching the fabric of a 30's sports suit I wear during these colder days.

The fold in the front is from handling the cap after some rain/snow...

...

Amazing cap!! It has a workwear quality. WELL DONE!! :eusa_clap

 

[Nick D]

Very nice work, Fastuni! Do you have any 'before' pictures of the fedora? I've brought a few hats back from the dead, it's always satisfying to turn something around like this.

 

[Nick D]

I found some vintage heavy (22oz!) houndstooth fabric from the personal stock of a retired costuming tailor, and made up these trousers. The fabric even has a couple moth-nibbles. I used a curved metal trouser zip, proper brace-buttons, vintage-style sateen lining, and non-sew trouser hooks.

The unfortunate thing is that they don't fit well. I lost a lot of weight between starting and finishing them (it took longer than usual, I had to set them aside to do other things), so I had to take these in a lot. I'm still working on losing some more weight, so I'll probably sell these when they're too big even with braces. I hope I can find fabric this nice again!

 

[herringbonekid]

is that the same Nick D ?

with the weight loss and new beard you look like a different man... leaner and meaner.

the trousers look very well made.

 

[Qirrel]

I made some vest welt pockets today:

 

[Guttersnipe]

It was a rainy weekend day today in San Francisco, so I decided to do some modeling. Here are some 20mm lead figures I painted. The castings are by the Historical Products Company, which makes a range of Spanish Civil War figures. I painted these figures in a rather generic color scheme appropriate for use as irregular Basque, Navarese, Castilian, or rural Catalan militiamen.

 

[Qirrel]

Finished a vest today:

 

[Fastuni]

Superb work... it will take a lot of moons 'til my skills are comparable.

 

[Nick D]

Really nice, Quirrel! I like the grown-on bottom facing. I have a '40s waistcoat with only one small bit of sewn on facing, I'll have to put up a photo of the interior. Is the outer edge of the stay tape caught in the seam or only stitched to the fabric?

 

[Qirrel]

The stay tape is not caught in the facing seam. I cut the canvas 1/4" away from the edge and take a 1/8" seam, so that the seam allowance fits between the edge and stay tape when the seam is opened and the facings turned back. I have tried the method of using a wider stay tape/linen strip and catching it in the seam, but I found it made the edge a bit wiry compared to felling the stay tape on both sides. Catching it in the seam does however save a quite a bit of time.

 

[Shangas]

I love the vest, qirrel! Very snappy.

 

[Mr. Speakeasy]

Here's a checkered morning coat I made from an 1880s pattern,