Johnnie Espresso
Active Member
Hi everybody,
i am a complete sucker for french cyclist- / Hartmann jackets, but haven't been able to score an original that fits me.
The repros available don't quite cut it for me, since they all seem off in either material or cut, so i was always reluctant to get one of these.
On this forum, i got to know pilot, who, in my eyes, produces the best repros available, but, although totally justified through quality and look,
his beautiful jackets are a bit out of my price range. This is why i decided to take matters into my own hands, to one day be able to own a jacket
that fits me well and has all the details i favour.
I have little and only autodidactical sewing experience, so my first step was watching every youtube-tutorial that i could find to get an idea of what i was up to.
Since i've learned that failure is always more of an option than success when it comes to a task like that, i bought an old, weathered and discoloured leather skin
for only 50€ off ebay to start with. I don't even know what type of leather this is, but it's 1,2mm thick and most likely cow hide.
The zippers were also cheap, off-the-shelf ones, made by Prym.
After i measued myself and the Hartmanns i own, i constructed the pattern and made "stencils" out of cardboard:
now, it was time to cut out all pieces needed:
after that, it was time to put everything together. The first thing i learned is that my old Pfaff 260 wasn't able to handle all these layers of leather, so i got myself a SINGER heavy duty, a rather cheap but powerful household sewing machine, which worked satisfactory but would come to its limits in the process as well.
I'll be saving some money to buy myself a Pfaff 145 or a Juki 563, which i've heard are fine for working with leather. If there is anybody here who works with a machine like that, i'd be glad to hear about your experiences with it and i'm also happy about any other recommendation for a good and affordable industrial sewing machine!
Here are some more pics from the sewing process: (the zippers and pocket construction made me swear a lot, but now i have a basic idea of how it's done )
The nicest and most recognizable part is of course the characteristic buckle, which i luckily had left over after buying two a couple of years ago, since i had the opportunity and needed one to replace the cheap knock-off on a repro jacket i got:
And here is the final outcome. It is BY FAR not perfect, there's uneven stitches, wonky parts and sewing mistakes all over, but i am very happy with the outcome because i wasn't sure whether i could pull it off or not:
I hope you can enjoy this little experiment, and thanks a bundle to this forum for educating me about the topic. Special thanks go out to fellow Hartmann enthusiast Kermit3D for encouraging me to write this thread and especially to Pilot, whose creations were a huge inspiration and will be my benchmark in further endeavours.
i am a complete sucker for french cyclist- / Hartmann jackets, but haven't been able to score an original that fits me.
The repros available don't quite cut it for me, since they all seem off in either material or cut, so i was always reluctant to get one of these.
On this forum, i got to know pilot, who, in my eyes, produces the best repros available, but, although totally justified through quality and look,
his beautiful jackets are a bit out of my price range. This is why i decided to take matters into my own hands, to one day be able to own a jacket
that fits me well and has all the details i favour.
I have little and only autodidactical sewing experience, so my first step was watching every youtube-tutorial that i could find to get an idea of what i was up to.
Since i've learned that failure is always more of an option than success when it comes to a task like that, i bought an old, weathered and discoloured leather skin
for only 50€ off ebay to start with. I don't even know what type of leather this is, but it's 1,2mm thick and most likely cow hide.
The zippers were also cheap, off-the-shelf ones, made by Prym.
After i measued myself and the Hartmanns i own, i constructed the pattern and made "stencils" out of cardboard:
now, it was time to cut out all pieces needed:
after that, it was time to put everything together. The first thing i learned is that my old Pfaff 260 wasn't able to handle all these layers of leather, so i got myself a SINGER heavy duty, a rather cheap but powerful household sewing machine, which worked satisfactory but would come to its limits in the process as well.
I'll be saving some money to buy myself a Pfaff 145 or a Juki 563, which i've heard are fine for working with leather. If there is anybody here who works with a machine like that, i'd be glad to hear about your experiences with it and i'm also happy about any other recommendation for a good and affordable industrial sewing machine!
Here are some more pics from the sewing process: (the zippers and pocket construction made me swear a lot, but now i have a basic idea of how it's done )
The nicest and most recognizable part is of course the characteristic buckle, which i luckily had left over after buying two a couple of years ago, since i had the opportunity and needed one to replace the cheap knock-off on a repro jacket i got:
And here is the final outcome. It is BY FAR not perfect, there's uneven stitches, wonky parts and sewing mistakes all over, but i am very happy with the outcome because i wasn't sure whether i could pull it off or not:
I hope you can enjoy this little experiment, and thanks a bundle to this forum for educating me about the topic. Special thanks go out to fellow Hartmann enthusiast Kermit3D for encouraging me to write this thread and especially to Pilot, whose creations were a huge inspiration and will be my benchmark in further endeavours.