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Sleeves

jeremiah

Well-Known Member
Before I place an order for a BK

Just looking for your guys opinions.
I am thinking of placing an order for a 36s
This will bring the sleeves and back down from 24” to 23”. Now, the question is to those who have jackets in the liberty HH. Will the sleeves shrink (the usual creasing) up 1/2” or more? If so I may want to make it 23.5” for sleeves and back. I just don’t want the sleeves to end up too short.
I am more than likely making a mistake ordering one but this jacket sickness has stricken me severely. :(

My ELC sleeves have bunched up to where it’s got a good length but there is the accordion look now. Trying to avoid that in the next one without having it so short it rides up to my mid arm when driving.
 

Skip

Well-Known Member
Half an inch at least, regardless of what you do it will always crease/concertina up

I tend to go a full inch on an A2 these days because I pref the extra length, but then the knits concertina as well, but I don't mind that

I guess it's what comfortable for you, and yes that library will crease up just like your ELC
 

Greg Gale

Well-Known Member
Sleeves are the trickiest part of an A-2. I'm starting to believe that due to the construction of the jacket you either have the "accordion look" plus tunneling and it doesn't ride up when driving, OR you get a "normal" look but it WILL ride up. I mean the sleeve construction is so not flexible, that it's next to impossible to hit that sweet spot. I guess you have to get the chest and shoulder size right, and then live with wherever the chips fall on the sleeves.

This being said, you can count on the sleeves becoming 1/2-1 inch shorter once the jacket is broken in.
 

D97x7

Well-Known Member
Pretty sure my BK has lost 1/2 an inch since new, not 100% though as I can't remember weather it was 25.5 or 26 when I got it, it's 25 now.
 

jeremiah

Well-Known Member
Thanks guys. I will at the least order it at 23.5" but may just stick to the stock 36R size which has back and sleeves at 24"

My previous BK dubow has 23" sleeves. looks right but yeah, rides up well past wrists while driving or doing pull ups, ha! So, I agree with your assessment Greg.
 

Brettafett

Well-Known Member
Jeremiah, I'd leave them as is. Go for the stock 36R.
Exactly as all the guys said above, 1/2 to 1 inch loss of length over time...
What you could do is slightly dampen the armpits/ top part of the sleeves (only) and then wear the jacket when driving or watching Telly... try keep arms straight and lift your arms... let the creases form under the armpits. This will happen naturally anyway, you're just giving a new jacket a head-start for comfort. You may find that you loose .25 inches to your sleeve length this way also.
 

Greg Gale

Well-Known Member
Good choice! I'm also afraid of short/ long versions because added/ substracted inches may throw off the historical proportions of the jacket. Then again, it's subjective and it may only be in my head...
 

jeremiah

Well-Known Member
Alright. Placing the order once I hear back from Andy. Man I hope I am right with keeping sleeves and back at 24” as is standard with that RW. I know sleeves should shrink a bit but what about back? My ELC is at 22-23” Just right for where I like it. 24 a little long. Now I did use the HWT on this and it was originally 25”. About the only part of the jacket that shrunk nice to size.

Hmmm. Seal or dark seal? Wish I had a piece of both in my hands to look at and see how it looks in natural and indoor lighting.
 
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Skip

Well-Known Member
Yeah the back tends to lose a bit, like Brett and Greg said a lot has to to with the pattern and the interpretation of that pattern by the current maker. And of course your body shape.

I have an Aero by DD sleeves / back 26.5
Fits really comfortably. The ELC Werber on the other hand has back 26.5 and sleeves 27.25 both now have stretched out the shoulders to 18 chest 21.5. By far the most comfortable is the Aero even though the sleeves on the Werber are longer. Werbers are a slimmer design especially the early years.

As for BK hide, their dark seal is very very dark if you like that, which I do, but not authentic if that matters
 

jeremiah

Well-Known Member
Thanks Skip
Hmmm. Ok. Well I will see what Andy suggests.
I am pretty short, 5’3.5” or so. I think I will let the sleeves alone at the 24” but thinking of going to a 23.5” back. I don’t plan to re sell this. So that isn’t an issue. Even if back lost a whole inch I would still be sitting fine with 22.5” back.

Or maybe I should just get the stock 36R size. I don’t know. At least if I go for the stock size it’s returnable but once I get nit picky it won’t be.
Hey I made an ELC size 40 work for me so what am I worried about. o_O

I think I have settled on the seal. I do like the darker seal too but after seeing pilots seal, I think that pushed me over the edge.
 
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jeremiah

Well-Known Member
Thinking of going with medium brown stitching over the olive drab.
It just looks so good and eventually will fade anyway and look more drab.

Trying to decide on the zipper. Normally it does not matter but trying to decide if I should spring another 95 pounds for the authentic NOS Tripple talon zip.
 

jeremiah

Well-Known Member
A little boring with the grain but according to HP the grain begins to come in more after wear.
Man does it look like the RW color that Grant put up in the Memphis belle thread.
 

jeremiah

Well-Known Member
Well. I pounced. That price was too good to pass up for me. I know BRs aren’t BKs, but it looks good and seems to have more grain than some other BRs I’ve seen.
The seller did not have the best pics measuring it but after talking with them I think it should fit. Just loved the worn in look it already has. The BK jacket will have to wait. I still have the BK Dubow anyway. One day.
 

jeremiah

Well-Known Member
Ok so back to my sleeves
They are the bane of my jacket selections.
So I have just ordered a BK dubow 1755. Selling the RW.
Now on the 36R the sleeves are 1” longer than the back length.
So sleeves 24.75”
Back 23.75”
Now I know that 23” is a great length for me in sleeves. It’s what my other BK Dubow has for sleeves as seen here. You can see the knits have some compression. I would say the 23" is a tad shorter than what I want my 1755 to have, so figured 23.75 would be good. even with .50 hypothetical loss of length via wrinkles and knits warping, it would be 23.25" which would be swell.
494BCB06-83E4-4A3F-B938-A10F60987EE9.jpeg

So I had them make my sleeves at 23.75” for this one. I am so afraid of having too long of sleeves and getting the accordion look now after having my ELC monarch with its sleeves at 24.5”.
But. And it’s a big but. I am wondering why for the size 36 the sleeves on the dubow are 3/4” longer than the 36R of the roughwear I was going to order. I know the back panel is more narrow so the sleeves would attach to the torso of the jacket at a spot which would maybe make the sleeves ride up higher on the arm so they compensate by increasing the length of the sleeve. So if I take away an inch does this mean the sleeve would be 1” higher than where it would be if it were the RW contract? Am I making sense here or conveying my thought process on this? I asked Andy but am afraid the language differences make it difficult to iron this detail out.
I know I am a nut for details but I am so nervous about having the sleeves too short or too long. And wanted to see if my thought process is correct on why this contract has the sleeves 1” longer than the back which normally they are the same. I don’t know if that bK dubow I have in picture above was a special order or not because it’s a size 38 but fits more like a 36 which is why it fits me so well.
Seeing as I have time to still change this I thought I would see what you say. I just know that 24.75” sleeves would be way tooo long on my Dubow I am wearing above if it had sleeves that long. At the 24.75” 36R stock size the sleeves would be longer than my monarch sleeves which started out at 25” and have gone to 24.5” after wrinkles and cuff compression.
 
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