My Fidelity Cafe Racer: quality and fit wth photos

[HoosierDaddy]

I agree with ton.

 

[Seb Lucas]

To my eye your jeans are spray on tight and can only help to make almost any jacket look odd unless the jacket is very tight too. Hey, they wore jeans like this when I was young too so it's not just an age thing.

I think it's easy to become obsessed with one's proportions and over fuss about them when you are self conscious about your hight. Everything starts to look odd when viewed from a single lens. I was always very slim and so I used to agonize about the width of my jeans. Were they too thin, too tight? Were they too baggy? Were they out of step with my torso size, etc. Most of the time they were just reasonably fitting jeans that no one noticed but me.

This hobby has a way of making people crazy - a button hole stitch in the wrong place or an odd shade of brown can send people temporarily insane. It's a case of analysis paralysis. Or something like that.

 

[Woodyear]

I think it’s odd that whenever some guy on here is complaining about a 27” highwayman with 28” sleeves that’s too short for their 5 foot frame, everyone has dozens of recommendations and sympathy for their ridiculously oversized jacket but almost no one is willing to help a brother out when they’re looking to get a more trim look. I guess I’ll be the first.

I wouldn’t do the hot water treatment in this case, you will get much more shrinking lengthwise than width wise, and I know from experience. Any tailor can do this alteration easily and it usually runs about 40 or 50 bucks, I have it done often as vintage jackets often come with short wide sleeves that could use some slimming. Also with the thick winter lining things could go pear shaped quickly. Weirdly I suppose pear shape is kind of what you’re looking for technically. Go to a tailor —problem solved.

 

[BobJ]

This jacket has quilted insulation, it will never be able to look as tight fitting as a jacket with a simple thin liner. Here's an idea - keep this one for cold weather wear, the sleeves will accommodate a sweater or hoodie, and get another jacket, without padded insulation in the sleeves, to wear when it's not so cold.

EDIT: Or, what Woodyear said.

 

[Seb Lucas]

I think it’s odd that whenever some guy on here is complaining about a 27” highwayman with 28” sleeves that’s too short for their 5 foot frame, everyone has dozens of recommendations and sympathy for their ridiculously oversized jacket but almost no one is willing to help a brother out when they’re looking to get a more trim look. I guess I’ll be the first.

I hear you but it's not quite the same thing, is it? This CR jacket actually looks good as is. It's his perception of the fit that is being explored. Plus to change the sleeve means cutting up a perfectly good jacket with questionable results. Nothing wrong with trying to make people feel better about what they already have.

 

[navetsea]

it has to do with the lining, the insulation make the creases bounce back, so it looks round & fat, try to find one again without padded lining in the sleeve.
But since you have some ideas already of what you want, what stopping you from getting it altered?
or try first wear it with the wrist zipper undone, I think the most problem is the sleeve looks tapered toward the wrist, making it look even bigger on the top, but if you wear it with unzipped cuff, then the bottom won't taper as much, and maybe that already enough to balance it out.

personally I also think the sleeve on your jacket looks too roomy to my taste not only on the biceps but down to the wrist as you already mentioned, if I'm you I won't even bother to ask other's opinion, I just do to my own jacket the way I like it, and show the result here. Honestly even if you ask for opinions, you already know what you see, even if some other people say it looks fine, it won't change your view, you eiher sell it or have it altered some way.

 

[ton312]

As woodyear said, a tailor should be able to do this fairly cheap. It's not a major alteration by any means but do use a tailor you trust (or at least one with experience w/leather). The only place it gets a little tricky is around the armhole and shoulder, as that diameter should be reduced proportionally as well.

 

[Oakbark]

Thanks everybody, got some extra good inside.
Thanks @Woodyear for the support: I appreciate every comments, it means people take time to give an answer: obviously I notice some humor or sarcasm, but that's ok, we're just talking about a leather jacket and I'm smart enough to read all and take it in a good way.
Btw I realize it's hard for we ( people ) to put in someone else shoes, cause everybody have its own issue or maybe some kind of complex and I have mine too.
I'm very critic with proportions and I'm even even more critic with the proportions regarding me.
I asked for opinions on this board cause most of you are expert in leather jackets and for sure have a good eye for the fit, but I realise it's also a matter of personal taste and age probably, well I don't know actually. Btw thanks again @Woodyear

@Seb Lucas yes you're right, I recognize myself in what you said, I'm a bit obsessed and self conscious of my height, I'm not a midget, but the point is I know what fit me better.
My body upper part measurements are the same of mid muscled guyz even 3 inches taller than me, so as you can imagine, a shirt, a sweater , a jacket do not fall the same on my figure compared to how they fall on much taller guyz. This is a fact.

And yes, those jeans are too tight: usually wear more regular jeans especially at the leg opening, but well, generally speaking I wear slim jeans, not skinny ones otherwise it would be like having 2 trunks of tree at my legs and do not forget my height wont change simply changing the jeans style.
Regarding the alterations, what you mentioned is my concern: sleeves are a difficult part cause the tailor have to deal also with armhole,,,,,so I don't know how would be the final work and you and @ton312 gave me confirm of my worry.

 

[Oakbark]

@BobJ @navetsea Thanks for the good point about the winter lining.
I remember I asked here on this forum before of buying the jacket and I mentioned about the winter lining: well it has gone beyond what I thought it could be. Probably has also to do with the era of this jacket as someone said already.
I knew that the sleeves could not shape and drape as in a jacket with a thin liner or even like that goatskin jacket in the above pics, but well, my jacket have really fat sleeves for what I was up to accept.

What made me wonder if it's the case to alter it somehow is that, just one inch tighter on the sleeves would transform the overall fit . I mean, 1 inch is not that much and I'm not looking for sleeves that drape all around. I'd just need to see the jacket more proportioned.

I'll try to ask to a leather tailor if he'd be able to do a ( very fine ) work and if he has some doubts on it, I wont alter the jacket at all.

Thanks everybody

 

[BobJ]

Good luck! And let us know what you end up doing... and PICS if you do get them altered!

 

[navetsea]

just take the inside seam, make it curve more on the biceps and the inside of the elbow, leave the outer seam alone as it's already curving,has double stitching + zipper, or just make a dart along the sleeve's length as if the sleeve is constructed with 3 panels instead of 2(I did that on baggy pants on the back of the leg to make it slim).

in the case of my pants, I pinched inside the part I want to lose while wearing the pants, and connect the edges with paper tape, and then I hand sew the dart from inside following the shape I created/ pinched and papertaped when wearing the pants earlier, and then I copied the shape to the other leg, and then brought it to professional to machine sew it.

 

[Oakbark]

Oh @navetsea very kind of you.
I m writing down your notes in order to remember them to be more prepared when I ll go to speak to the tailor.
I always wondered as I never seen it what the tailor has to do exactly to the armhole when taking in the sleeve.
Does he also have to open the body sides seam in order to reduce the harmhole s circunference? Or is there a way to take in the sleeve without altering the armhole?
Thanks

 

[navetsea]

you can not make the arm hole of the body smaller, especially when you feel the body is already fitted, the only thing you can do is just make some curve on the sleeve to reduce its bagginess, the low armhole sadly you can't do anything to that, unless you add material, but that would be ugly and won't match the old leather.

to copy the shape from one sleeve to other sleeve, you need tracing wheel, and color/ sewing yellow carbon paper.

 

[Oakbark]

I waw googling around and I found this topic where a guy made some alterations to his jacket: narrowed the sleeves, shortened them and shortened the jacket lenght too.
Here some examples of before and after.
It s not a cafe racer, leather is different, but well at least I can have a clue about some alterations result

 

[Oakbark]

@navetsea
Ahh now I got, the curve has to be within the sleeve without and leaving the joint part (sleeve-harmhole) untouched. Well it s a relief, much easier for sure for the tailor and I m ok with the harmhole size even cause the chest measurement is just fine, but a bit tighter would be already too tight, so I m glad to know the sleeves can be narrowed without touching the rest.
Thank you very much

 

[navetsea]

when you alter the shape of the sleeve, the old creases and the fading pattern on the sleeve relating to those old creases will shift place, new creases will form, and maybe the fading/ surface wear pattern won't fit the new creases, just to inform you, it's obvious, the same with jeans when washed and shrink the creases are all shifted.

 

[Oakbark]

What price range might I expect if I should ask to replace the heavy sleeve's lining with something lighter and thinner.
I'm watching lots of people wearing CF leather jackets online and I notice that even at the forearm zippers part my jacket looks much wider than others.
The combination of thick leather and heavy lining it's a mess for a trim fit ( on the sleeves I mean ) even because also the leather parts when you unzip the slevees' zippers are padded making them tubolar instead of conic shaped to the wrists.
So I was considering a thinner lining as an option.
Before of asking to the tailor, what price should I expect....and what material for the lining?
Bemberg? silk and cotton?
Thanks since now

 

[Oakbark]

Well I'm back,
I went to the tailor, he told me it's a quite common alteration: he/they were just not so used to work with such a thick leather as I suspected looking at their workshop.
Btw, it was so easy that they didn't have any problems doing the job and after 2 days I got the jacket back.
I'm pleased with the result: feel much at ease now, I don't like baggy clothes on me.
Sleeves still have some room to wear a light sweater and zippers go down till the hem

before now

now before

before

now

before

now

 

[handymike]

Very nice!