my visit to the jacket tailor today

[navetsea]

these are my goat, rather dull and grey as they are claimed to be black (used to be black) compared to that portion of one of the guy's black shoe there on the corner is quite evident how pale they are.

I picked them for my next jacket

and this is another project for my brother, a test prototype made from scrap fabric, need some adjustments on the sleeve ,and waist, and zippers config placement
sleeve zipper is twisting from the elbow going toward thumb, must be quite difficult to do, still not properly lined up, but in leather probably it would be less showing

would be black cow.

 

[Monitor]

Hey, how's your jacket working out so far? Any news? No replies but I'm sure I'm not the only one interested to see how's this gonna turn out.

 

[navetsea]

hey thanks Monitor, it's only last Monday we visited them, and the prototype jacket needed some adjustment, so it would be another fitting again before the final built on leather. I will keep the process posted especially once they work on the leather, because I think it would be interesting to see what inside the jacket before it got lined and finished, so after the last fitting session I will periodically drop by and take more photos
my brother works with a company and office hours, so he is not as free as me to have appointment for fitting, that slows thing a little bit, lucky I also started my own jacket too in parallel project, so they don't feel like stuck with a single weird jacket that takes a long time to make. not saying my jacket is very simple to make, but at least I'm much more enthusiastic client, and I come often lately

 

[navetsea]

Today I visited them to try on my prototype
there are something yet to be added like chest pockets, sleeve zipper position, and some elements need readjustments
but the general look is very snug and awesome, I particularly being blown away with how perfect the shoulder and neck area


some of my input:
- lower waist of the jacket need to be a tad bigger as even when they actually fit around my hip yet the jacket easily bunched up after I move around a little, and the leather won't be heavy/ thick enough to keep it straight.
- main zipper need to be shorter, this is too long since it won't be a dual zipper, so this would probably scratch my tank if not made higher.
- sleeve needs to be 2 cm longer
-made correction for the chest pocket shape

Please give me your opinion about the fit... I like a snug jacket, and it is going to be light weight leather (goat)
satin lining on the sleeve, and heavier lining on the body.
all hardware are going to be silver.

BTW with the same set of clothes I compare it with the fit of my other jackets


thanks

 

[mendelboaz]

I think the fit is awesome! Adding chest pockets is a very good idea, it makes the jacket look cooler. I hope the fit works out the same way with leather. Tight fits work best with thin material.

 

[navetsea]

thank you mendelboaz, yes I want a pair of chest pocket this time, also a little bit slanted up, I also hope the fit would work on the leather version, but I told them to calculate the lining, and probably the leather need to be made slightly bigger than this prototype otherwise it would be very tight once the lining is on.

 

[navetsea]

Studying those pictures, I decided to keep the zipper length, but to make the upper waist of the jacket slimmer, and the lower waist bigger, and to have inner lips underneath cuff sleeve since it won't have cuff gusset, and the zipper would be on top of my wrist watch face, so I want it to protect the watch from being scratched, despite of being gussetless.
I also did more thorough testing for the range of movement in its slim sleeve and raglan shoulder, and it was great, the body of the jacket stay in place, very minimum riding up on the back and the side despite being very slim all around, however the sleeve need to be made 4cm longer from comparison to my other jacket with a set in wrinkles, the armpit eventhough it was very good in its range of motion, I also decide to add 1cm for easier wear.
these are photos taken earlier today, as I visited them again, while wearing less puffy pants to get a better idea of its real proportion.

 

[ProteinNerd]

Please keep us updated, this is really interesting.

 

[mendelboaz]

+1

 

[navetsea]

Thanks, I will update everytime I visit them until the jacket is done.

BTW about the fit picture of the sleeve, I asked them to make a biswing gusset from the top of the shoulder, and going under the armpit, and half way front until it meets the raglan panel. on the left arm they made the sleeve just as normal sleeve, and then connect it with a separate piece of the gusset, while on the right sleeve they manage to make an ongoing clean one piece including the gusset loop being an integral part of the sleeve, less seam and cleaner operation, it fold neatly inside when the arm taken down, on the final jacket the edge around the biswing would be made sturdier by a small tubing insert so hopefully it would work even better.

 

[navetsea]

Today, I visited them again to fit the first time of the leather version


... sadly it was a mixed feeling, some areas need to be fixed, but all in all it was a good progress at the end, I can't wait for the next fitting
probably there it shows how grey and faded the unfinished goat is, I love it.

 

[mendelboaz]

Progress is looking good! I'm very interested to see how the final product turns out

 

[navetsea]

thanks man, I use this project as a study case, I also ask for removable lining, so we can see the inner construction of this jacket.

 

[navetsea]

so today's visit left a much better impression, I like the fit in the body, but the sleeve need to be rotated a bit, and made a tad slimmer on the upper arm. need wider leather strip to be glued inside to make area around its hem look neater probably 10cm wide around the jacket following the contour of its hem. but it's getting there, an I can't wait to bring it home

I chose to go with detachable lining, and probably will stick to this way for further projects, it will also make reparation or alteration process whenever needed much easier, we can peek at the neat workmanship underneath.
my lining has 3/4 sleeve and attached to the jacket via small snap buttons, plan to make several different linings for it, so I can wash or change it depending on the season.

 

[navetsea]

this is a comparison picture of my fitting saga.. so far..

Almost there , today I visited them again to check the fit, back is MUCH better (huge sigh of relief...), upper sleeve still kinda twisting caused by a combination of several factors: that sticking out seams + the weight of the cuff's zipper + thin hide
waist need a little bit trimmer to give nicer silhouette

 

[MacAero]

In my eyes that's the perfect custom fit jacket! Chapeau!

 

[Monitor]

Sleek, man! Really got that one perfected.

 

[navetsea]

Thank you MacAero and Monitor... so excited it's almost done probably one more adjustment, and then placing eyelets and snaps.

 

[Carlos840]

This is really starting to look good! Do you mind saying how much you pay for this? Just wondering how it compares to something like an Aero, or Lewis leathers?

 

[navetsea]

This is really starting to look good! Do you mind saying how much you pay for this? Just wondering how it compares to something like an Aero, or Lewis leathers?

I haven't ask... and they can't quote me yet because
1. unlike my first jacket which was very quick in fitting, thick cow was so much easier to look nice and clean while this goat is much more troublesome, so it underwent so many revisions, I dunno how much it would stack up to the total price.
2. the owner is still on vacation in canada

3. I use their old unfinished goat hide, that was used for Japanese jacket export years ago, and apparently local market looks down on goat and cow (they likes sheep or lamb ha ha)

But it won't be comparable to Aero or Lewis... probably only half that,
I live in Indonesia with totally different economy and currency value and this is just a small local company.