Learning how to make my own A-2

[fishmeok]

So I'm ready to make my first jacket. I ended up taking apart the civi horsehide jacket I bought off e-bay and making re-sized patterns out of it- a lot harder than I thought it would be to accomplish. I made the liner tonight to try out my re-sized patterns, and I will be cutting leather this weekend. I have two large hides to work with, one I actually paid money for, and one cheapy from e-bay that I will have to re-dye before sewing it together. I really like the russet hide, it has very nice grain and will look good as an A-2. I'm going to make the civilian first because I was able to take the jacket apart and make patterns- I tried to make them with the jacket assembled, but that didn't work out too well. The stitching was rotten anyway so I just took it apart. The jacket I am going to make will have Dubow pockets and epaulets and i may copy the three piece sleeves to save some hide, depends on how it cuts.

Pile o' pattern jacket:

More practice pieces-

My two hides- guess which one I'm going to have to dye

The patterns, original size (about a 40) and resized to a 46

This should be fun.
Cheers
Mark

 

[Edward]

Looks like an exciting project.... gonig from my own experience of putting costumes together (though I've never done anything as full-on as this!), it'll be quite the rush when you have it together and wear it out for the first time. Looking forward to seeing photos....

Next step once you're doing complete jackets....airbrushing / painting decals and artwork?

 

[Smithy]

Seriously, good luck to you. I've been watching this thread and have been impressed with what you've been doing.

I'm sure you'll do a great job making your own A-2, and just imagine how much more pleasure you'll get wearing it when you know that you made it.

My hat is off to you :eusa_clap

 

[fishmeok]

I've been working on this off and on since last summer- mostly trial and error,but John Chapman (Goodwear) has been very helpful and saved me a lot of time with his advice. I used to paint jackets, but that was a long time ago.

It will probably take me a few weeks to get the thing made, but I will post pics when I am done.
Cheers
Mark

 

[scotrace]

I've been reading this avidly all along, as I know many have. Three cheers to you for your courage and what you have accomplished. Keep going -you are doing an amazing job!

 

[boyorastroboy]

The patterns, original size (about a 40) and resized to a 46

Mark

Wow, was there some complicated calculus involved in the resizing? Like, add 10% to width and 3.2% to height, or do you just expand out equally in all directions? Do you just try to make sure that seam to seam sizes for contiguous pieces add up to your measurements?
Fascinating project, thanks for sharing photos of the process!

 

[tonypaj]

I've been working on this off and on since last summer- mostly trial and error,but John Chapman (Goodwear) has been very helpful and saved me a lot of time with his advice. I used to paint jackets, but that was a long time ago.

It will probably take me a few weeks to get the thing made, but I will post pics when I am done.
Cheers
Mark

I'm impressed, and looking forward to seeing the end result. And also, thanks for the coat, it came day before yesterday, fits me perfectly...

 

[fishmeok]

Tonypaj- glad you got the Trench, I was going drop you a PM tonight to see if it was there yet. I've had good experiences sending things overseas with USPS. I think I wore that coat all of three times, but didn't want to get rid of it 'cause it's a 100% cotton Burberry...
This new jacket-making thing finally convinced me it was time to lighten my coat collection a bit.

Thanks Scottrace- warm fuzzies all around (remember those?)

I resized the pattern figuring the final measurments I wanted, had a few specific points and fudged it out to match. For instance I need a 7" shoulder and approx 23" across under the arms so I marked these down on paper (I cut up old paper bags to use for this) and them made a paper copy of the original size 40 pattern out of another grocery bag. I followed instructions I found on the internets and cut the paper copy of the front panel in three pieces going lengthwise. Then spread them out on the other sheet of paper to match the desired dimensions and re-traced the pattern. Once I had the body pattern figured out I measured how much length I needed to add to the collar. My biggest concern was the arm holes- the sleeve and body diameter have to match. I measured around my new armscyth and added the same amount to the sleeve pattern using the same methods as the body. Turned out I didn't really need to do this, the original size 40 armhole and sleeve were plenty big enough, just needed a few inches of length added to the cuff.

The collar, pockets, etc stay the same size (the collar is just lengthened to accomidate the larger size)- I don't think I would have to change them unless I was making a huge or super tiny jacket that would knock off the proportions (On A-2's the pockets are the same across the entire sizing range)

I tried pinning everything together to see how it would fit, but the liner was the real test- everything seems to be correct.

The funny part is that this is probably elementary stuff for people who know how to sew, but it's a big deal to me...

Cheers
Mark