REMARKABLE W&G M-422A

[Maverickson]

Hi All,

I wanted to share what I believe to be a rather remarkable early War W&G jacket I just recently restored with the forum. This particular jacket really piqued my interest because of it’s fantastic condition. When originally received from Bazelot the majority of this jacket’s thread left it so fragile they literally disintegrated when handled. Subsequently all that has changed and this jacket with the help of my work and what I refer to as a max effort has transformed this jacket into a great wearer.

Besides the thread, the only thing that has changed about this jacket is the mouton collar was replaced. Otherwise what you see is all original or what it came with from the factory.











Cheers, Dave

 

[Roughwear]

You have done a really first rate job Dave. Congratulations.

 

[Peter Graham]

Fantastic work Dave. Beautiful jacket.

 

[CBI]

looks super!!!!!

 

[chamboid]

fantastic, really does loot super, and 'before' shots to show the condition?

 

[MikeyB-17]

Cor! what a stunner! Hell of a job!

 

[daw]

Pretty clearly a labor of love. Spectacular.

Will you wear it, or sell it?

Dennis

 

[Maverickson]

fantastic, really does loot super, and 'before' shots to show the condition?

Ben,
When I received that jacket it looked good. Which is why I was originally drawn to it. While under restoration if anything I improved the overall look of the jacket by correcting a couple of factory anomalies. Among those was a crooked label.



Notice that the mouton is not all that bad looking. Unfortunately, the dog got ahold of that original mouton while I was disassembling that jacket and I was forced to replace it.

Those corrections like that seen above was just a consequence of this restoration process. While doing I naturally try in improve on those factory mistakes. But it was the thread problem that was the root problem with this jacket. The separating shoulders on these jackets are the tell tale sign of a thread problem as seen below.



Another correction done was to the zip's male insert. It was originally attached too far inset. While at it and especially since I was taking the time to stitch the jacket in it's entirety I took it upon myself to correct that problem.



Also note, that those new stitches are perfectly aligned both inside and out on that zip track.

Cheers, Dave

 

[CBI]

great looking jacket!!!!!

 

[colekwok]

Wow, stunning! How did you do that! Yes, the jacket itself was already in immaculate condition, but now it looks like a modern repro! Seriously!

 

[Silver Surfer]

as always, serious attention to detail. outstanding!

 

[Maverickson]

Wow, stunning! How did you do that! Yes, the jacket itself was already in immaculate condition, but now it looks like a modern repro! Seriously!

To answer your question............ all stitches visible to the eye that has an opposing panel (like a zip track backed with the lapel) is done using double needles. Those said panels must be perfectly aligned. When done correctly no ghost stitches are visible.

Practice makes perfect and once learned that stitch can closely mimic a machine stitch. All else is machine stitched with great care.

Lots of tricks. All learned through hard knocks with no substitute for experience. Initially learned out of necessity because found the restoration workmanship available never met with my expectations.

Only worth the effort with high end jackets. All my jackets from my personal collection are done this way. Thought it worth the effort on this particular jacket.

Cheers, Dave