Work in progress: Gareth Pugh jacket

[MikeN]

This is amazing.

[Aleks]

how are you finishing it? is it lined?

[marc1975]

Have you tried cut-out darts?

Maybe you know a trick I don't (which could very well be...), but the darts I know almost always end up with a little excess fabric that you normally iron to the sides, so it lays flat.
Neoprene + ironing = doesn' work.
If you cut off the excess fabric, the remaining neoprene edges will stand up like a nail in a wooden board. Very hard to push down to lay flat. I even tried glueing with a special textile glue (Gütermann HT2). This does work, but then you end up having to push through an awful lot of fabric (leather + surface layer of neoprene + excess fabric of dart). At least for the parts where I do have appliqués, I wanted to avoid this thickness. That's why I changed the pattern for these areas.

The appliqués make it hard stitching the parts together, as the neoprene develops a life of its own. It always wants to bend the way you don't want it to .

I've just completed sewing the sidepanels to the jacket:



Note that the appliques really line up nicely *proudIam*

how are you finishing it? is it lined?

Very good question...
I thought about not lining it at first, and finishing the edges with the Hong Kong binding seam finish. Then again the inner side of the neoprene is not slippery at all, so the garment would be very difficult to put on, and might travel up and down by just moving around - which clearly is in favor of a lining.

I therefore decided for a light lining. I normally use Royal Duchesse, which is too thick for this. I ordered a stretch lining from an online shop, but this feels too Polyester-ish. I probably will end up using Neva Viscon, which is a mix of 28 % Polyamide and 72 % viscose.
I've got a small amount left (probably not enough for the whole jacket), but it feels lightest of all lining fabrics I've got here.

Don't ask me how I will finish up the inner edges of the jacket... I've no idea yet... well... I do, but this would involve a lot of hand sewing...

Cheers,
Marc

[marc1975]

1 hour and 15 minutes later... core parts finished. Fits like a glove, but is a little stiff, similar to wearing a diver's suit



Too bad I've got to go to work tomorrow. I don't know whether I will be able to work on the jacket in the next 2 days, as I have meetings all day long...

[Heirloom]

so far it looks better than the original.

[DamageX]

I agree with Heirloom, this looks amazing, best of luck on this project but so far it seems like you don't need it! Great job!

[Mirror&Rack]

great work..... I would imagine that for production, everything would either be laser cut or serrated stamped.

[Patroklus]

A cutaway dart is exactly as it sounds, you just slice out the dart excess. It was very popular back in the days of tight laced corsets and bodices, since they had to fit an ample bust and a slight waist. A regular dart with the excess in tact wouldn't have been practical. I've never worked with neoprene before though, so you know better than I do.

That said, i don't know if you'll need darting anyway since you have a form fitting jacket made out of stretchy leather sewn onto stretchy neoprene. Darts are more for adding 3D shape to non-stretchy wovens than just for slimming a garment.

[nadir]

I'm looking forward to seeing a fit pic of this - will it be more like a jacket, or battle armour...

[marc1975]

No updates today (and very likely none tomorrow). I feel drained after a stressful day, and this is not the best starting point to work on something like this. However I had enough energy to make more pics...

I'm looking forward to seeing a fit pic of this - will it be more like a jacket, or battle armour...

Definitely battle armour...
Mind you, the leather I am using is around 1 mm thick. I had various leather samples between 0.4 - 0.6 mm thickness, which felt too bendable / flexible when holding them in your hand (leather I would probably use for gloves). I also sewed them onto neoprene, but it's difficult to judge how a whole garment will feel like by looking at a 10 x 10 cm sample. Besides, the pictures of the original jacket showed a clear cut edge, so I assumed that the material must have a certain thickness to it.

On the other hand... battle armour is cool. I like this jacket because of its look. Cool thing to wear at a company party when everyone else is wearing a suit...

A real fit pic can only be achieved with zipper, collar and sleeves, but here's a sneak-peak:

Note that the narrow Neoprene bar (3 cm width) at the bottom of the jacket where no leather appliques are will be turned to the inside, so the jacket will close off with leather only, like the original (this is where I will only be able to do hand sewing to finish off the hem at the very end). So the whole jacket is approx. 3 cm shorter than it currently shows on the pic.

I am 36 years old, so the days I could pass as a skinny runway model are over. Sorry. That's why I am producing this in an Italian size 48/50...

Cheers,
Marc

[Wiggles]

speechless. gorgeous, marc! can't wait to see the finished product, i'm sure you're going to get a lot of love for it

edit: with the thickness of the leather, is it comfortable?

[nadir]

Beautiful. If you do ever wear it to a business party, please take a photo.

[JacobChristian]

pretty fucking amazing job.

[marc1975]

Added the collar and the zipper. Was the most difficult collar I've done so far, due to the appliques on the material. First attached it with fixing pins, then did some basting by hand, removed the fixing pins and sewed it with the machine veeeeery slowly. The fabric that you can see at the top of the collar is the lining, which I haven't attached properly yet, so it peeks out a little. In finished state, the collar will close off exactly where the leather appliques end.

Quick snapshot (taken outside with bright sunlight, sorry for the bad quality):

Please note that the triangular applique pieces near the zipper on the collar match the pieces below in my design. In the original, these don't match:

It's the little details that count ...

with the thickness of the leather, is it comfortable?

As long as you don't want to do sports in it, it's fine
When putting it on, it first feels like a diver's jacket, due to the cut being quite narrow/slim. Once you have got it on, you don't notice that much from the leather anymore. That might change with the sleeves attached, but right now, I could wear it for a prolonged time easily.


Next update is probably going to take 1 - 2 weeks, as I am going on a business trip starting this Sunday (London / Brighton). Going to be back next weekend.

Cheers,
Marc

[Patroklus]

Hugo Boss x Gareth Pugh concepts?