My first jacket- look what I made! just like a big boy...

[MikeyB-17]

Tunneling is the telescoping of the knits up inside the jacket sleeve. I personally don't think it looks too bad, I'd rather have tunneling than sleeves that are too short.

 

[TankBuster]

Nice work Mark! Make sure to bring whatever you have finished to the
show in Sept. I'm real interested to check them out.

 

[deeb7]

I personally don't think it looks too bad, I'd rather have tunneling than sleeves that are too short.

Yes, a little tunneling can be good ... it's only bad when it's excessive, and then it's usually accompanied by piano accordian sleeves.

Disclaimer: Not talking about Mark's jacket here, just in general.

 

[Clark J]

Hell of a job Fishman!!!!But could we clean up the back yard a little!!

 

[fishmeok]

Can't blame me for that mess- I'm a renter....

Here's some more pics- note how different the arms look today: same jacket, I'm just standing up straight.
Cheers
Mark

 

[fishmeok]

More detail pics

Original collar over the copy:

Views:

2-piece arms and 3 piece back:

Collar and details- overall I'm pretty happy with it, but I can still see MANY areas that need improvement:

 

[asiamiles]

Yes, a little tunneling can be good ... it's only bad when it's excessive

Agreed. I think sleeves should 'tunnel', otherwise when the arms are outstretched the cuffs will pull up...unless the jacket has a bi-swing back. A couple of inches is probably ideal? I think 'tunneling' only becomes unsightly when the sleeves are so long the cuffs completely disappear into them.

Overall, that's truly incredible work and I wonder where the future lies? I don't think we need another A-2 replicater, and am pleased that you've chosen to do a variant rather than a copy...I am sure you can find a niche that you could fill if you decide to take your ever increasing skills into the jacket marketplace.

 

[Chandler]

As far as taper, Paddy at RMNZ told me that the standard procedure when shortening sleeves is to also adjust the taper of the sleeve to the new length.

Flight Suits told me that they couldn't do that without major alteration... and cost.

Chandler

 

[T-Bolt]

As far as taper, Paddy at RMNZ told me that the standard procedure when shortening sleeves is to also adjust the taper of the sleeve to the new length.

Flight Suits told me that they couldn't do that without major alteration... and cost.

Chandler

Chandler,

Email or phone Paddy at RMNZ and ask her about it. I am sure she said tapering was part of the deal when shortening is done. I thought she said that if the jacket was a new one, purchased from them (RMNZ), they would shorten and retaper once for free.


Ted

 

[fishmeok]

I guess I don't understand why re-tapering would be difficult. If you shorten the sleeve you can easily narrow the taper, and on an A-2 this is as simple as sewing a new line on the bottom (non-topstitched) seam of the sleeve. Wouldn't even have to pull out the old stitches (Well, not until you get down to the cuff, anyway). If the bottom seam was topstiched (I think some are, aren't they?) there would be an extra line of visable holes disappearing into the new seam, but these could be minimized with a little creative work with a mallet.

Maybe they are talking about widening the taper, or shortening the sleeve more than 3 or 4 inches? I could see where you might run into problems there. In my experience the only way this could turn into major work is if you had to actually replace the sleeve-
Cheers
Mark

 

[Chandler]

Maybe they are talking about widening the taper, or shortening the sleeve more than 3 or 4 inches?

No widening (??!!), and I was only looking at taking about an inch (at most) off.

Don't forget the lining in all the work too.

Ted; don't own any RMNZ jackets, doubt that they'd work on an FS piece, and I've learned to live with it in the time since I wanted it done. Just started the thought because I wondered why so many repros seem to tunnel.

Chandler

 

[fishmeok]

That's very odd, G&B are generally excellent with customer service, but someone was making a mistake, or they didn't want to do the job. It's VERY easy to shorten the sleeves. All A-2's are put together with an opening in the liner inside one of the sleeves that is used to turn the jacket inside out for final stitching. This is an opening about 4 inches or so along the seam that has to be stitched from the face side after the jacket is complete. To replace knits or shorten the sleeve you open this seam back up, turn the jacket inside out, remove the knits, and do whatever else needs to be done. Shortening a sleeve one or 2 inches will not have any noticable effect on taper unless the pattern is completely messed up. You just cut down the sleeve, sew the cuff to the leather, sew the liner to the cuff+leather, turn the jacket rightside out, stich the liner seam back up, and it's done.
Cheers
Mark

 

[Chandler]

It's VERY easy to shorten the sleeves.

No, no -- you're off track, they said shortening wasn't a problem, re-tapering to make up for the shortening would have been deeper work.

Chandler

 

[fishmeok]

This jacket is now up for sale to fund my madness- see the classifieds if interested
Cheers
Mark

 

[fishmeok]

Jacket #3 is done!

Here's jacket number 3. I made it a little roomier than #2 and used a darker hide. I also used tan thread for the contrast, but am having some topstiching issues I need to re-do, I think my machine is out of whack again (70+ year old machine). I like how this one turned out though. I added a leather strip along the liner by the zipper, and used a Dubow A-2 pattern for the collar. This one will also be for sale after I play with it for a bit.
Cheers
Mark

 

[art of a2]

What a really great job you did with this jacket. The pictures looks terrific and do justice to your work. Hope you get what you want for it and look forward to hopefully seeing further projects?

 

[les_garten]

Hi,

What kind of sewing machine?

I have a Patch that Jerome made for me and when I went to a few places to get it sewn on, the stitch was too coarse. They looked at the Jacket and had no idea how to get a stitch like that.

Les

 

[fishmeok]

try a shoe repair or jacket repair shop. You need a serious industrial to sucessfully sew leather.
cheers
Mark