Work in progress: Gareth Pugh jacket

[marc1975]

Hugo Boss x Gareth Pugh concepts?

I thought that this would be an interesting combination

Seriously... this was the only hanger I had left that had contoured edges, so the shoulder fabric would have a larger area to rest on. After my recent shopping spree in London, all of my other contoured wooden hangers are in use... I need to buy new hangers, I know...

Cheers,
Marc

[mrbeuys]

Man, I have to say I am in awe of your craft. I can't quite comprehend the motivation, but that's part of the allure. As everyone else, can't wait to see the finished product, but don't wear blue jeans with it please.

[BeauIXI]

This is fucking good, man. You must look like a boss in all this stuff.

[Vanna]

What a fantastic thread. It looks much better than the original. Thank you for sharing this and like the rest of us, I'm excited to see the finished jacket!

[marc1975]

Hi everyone,

yup, I am still alive
Last weekend, I didn't feel like working on the jacket, as I had just returned from shopping in London and a workshop in Brighton. I just needed to get some sleep, clean up and do laundry.

I haven't made that much progress... I hadn't done the appliqué pattern for the sleeves yet, so I needed to do these first. I am using a two-piece sleeve (opposed to the original, which seems to use a one piece sleeve), which results in not being able to just draw the geometric pattern on plain (2d) paper, as there are 3 dimensions to this sort of sleeve, which makes things much more complicated than with the other parts of the jacket so far.

I first took some nettle cloth and drew the geometric pattern onto that...



... put it onto a copying machine, cut out the single paper bits, transferred them onto cardboard, sewed the two neoprene sleeve pieces together, glued the seam allowances to the side, cut out the leather appliqués and sewed the appliqués to the neoprene sleeve. As the pattern didn't totally fit, I had to cut out some of the appliques a second time with slightly different angles.
This is the sleeve so far...



As you can see, there is a little bump around the elbow area, which is intended to make the jacket fit better. Sewing of the sleeve was the worst thing of the jacket so far, as the seam allowance where the two sleeve parts meet is thicker...



...so the machine left out some stitches multiple times when running over these seam allowances. This meant redoing the seam, either by hand, or by machine, using an applique foot and hitting the previously punched holes exactly again, so no additional hole would be punched by the needle. Tedious work...

The zipper is next. As I haven't done zippers at the end of sleeves, I am first going to practice with a scrap piece of neoprene, before I try it on the final sleeve.

So much for now!

Cheers,
Marc

[nicelynice]

Just wanted to say that I really enjoy your posts on this sub-forum. Thanks for sharing your various projects, and doing such a good documenting the process. It's really something seeing everything come together

[messenoire]

this thread has made me respect gareth pugh's team so much more! when you get down to it you can really see his pricepoint justified.

[marc1975]

No new pictures as I had some difficulty putting in the zipper due to the thickness of the neoprene. As I had scheduled an appointment with someone who has studied textile design anyway (she is going to teach me pattern drafting), I waited till today and asked her what the best way to put the zipper in would be. Turns out that I had already found the best way considering the fabric... I will be working on the zipper later today and might be able to attach the sleeve this weekend. Depends on the weather... it's quite sunny here in Germany, so I don't want to sit inside the whole day...

Just wanted to say that I really enjoy your posts on this sub-forum

Thank you! I often wonder whether anybody is interested in this, or whether it's just me...

this thread has made me respect gareth pugh's team so much more! when you get down to it you can really see his pricepoint justified.

I certainly agree when it comes to the initial design and the labor that must be invested to sew all the appliques onto the garment. Still (as I wrote initially), I don't understand why he uses PVC as a material instead of leather, and why some of the topstitching is done carelessly. Nonetheless, a pricepoint above 1,000 Euros is certainly more justified for this garment than the ~ 650 Euros for the Prada lurex polo shirt that I looked at yesterday. I only have one item from Prada so far (a blazer), and didn't know their prices. They didn't have my favorite shirt color in stock, so the sales clerk wanted to order it for me. It was at that time that I looked at the price tag. I told the sales clerk that I would have taken the lurex shirt if it had been around 300 Euros (which is already very steep in my opinion for such a simple piece), and she just gave me a puzzled look . I guess that puts the lurex shirt next onto my list of to-sew items. But I digress, I don't want to start a price discussion in this thread...

Still you are right: Since I have started sewing, I tend to appreciate well-done (more complicated) garments much more than before (not only Gareth Pugh's ones). It also makes it harder to throw away older items...

[marc1975]

First mistake...

I just made a huge mistake...

I had completed the zipper on the sleeve and now wanted to attach it to the rest of the jacket. I first attached the sleeve with pins...



... then handstitched a basting seam to hold everything in place without the needles (removing the needles again), and then wanted to do the final seam with my sewing machine.
What I didn't notice: the appliques of the upper part of the sleeve had managed to slip under my machine's walking foot. Sometimes, it's bad to have a sewing machine that is so powerful that you don't notice when it catches a leather applique and punches through.
After a couple of centimeters, I noticed that the fabric didn't look right behind the walking foot, and I stopped sewing. The machine had punched holes into two of the appliques:



That would probably not have happened with the jersey/PVC combination Gareth chose, as jersey/PVC can be bent much more easily. The leather I am using is much more rigid.

So... what happened is really bad.
I would have to open up all seams of the sleeve again and remove the zipper, in order to gain access to remove the appliques and put new leather appliques on. I've decided not to go that route (I am glad the zipper is in, as I hand-sewed it on) and live with the couple of holes.

I am now going to do attach the sleeve by hand-stiching it. My machine won't touch the sleeve anymore...

Here's two quick pics of how the sleeve and the zipper looks like (sleeve semi-attached, not final):





Cheers,
Marc

P.S. (Edit): I already tried on the jacket with the (attached via basting seam) sleeve, and the fit is quite good, just as in my nettle cloth version. Once I've completed the final seam by hand, I will post new fit pics.

[lost53]

Man, gutted for you in regards to your slight setback.
Have been following this with the upmost respect and enjoyment.


This thread shows such skill, dedication and determination.
Thanks for sharing, no need for luck; you got this project well undercontrol

[marc1975]

Completed the right sleeve yesterday at around midnight - didn't have time to take pics yesterday. As promised... here are the fit pics.
Please note: The edges and lining aren't finished yet, so in some of the pictures the edges still don't look right. These will be finished up once I get to the inner lining. The trousers are the ones from my Gareth Pugh pants thread.









Before someone asks what I am holding in my hand: Yes, an iPh*ne. There is an app that lets you control Nikon cameras that are tethered to your PC/Mac, so you can control the camera, take a snapshots, look at the iPhone (without having to walk to the PC or camera) and check the pic that was taken. Quite handy if you want to adjust exposure, etc., which can also be done via the app.

I will be working on the other sleeve this weekend, cutting out the appliques first. It will probably take two weekends to finish the other sleeve and another two to finish the inner lining. So the whole jacket should be finished in one month, maybe earlier.

Cheers,
Marc

[Rosenrot]

Good Lord! I'm floored by your work. Wish I can sew that for myself, especially when I'm not seeing my favourite jacket from this collection anywhere in stores right now.I digress. GOOD JOB! I'm looking forward to seeing the completed piece

[ISM]

you did an incredible job! is that a riri zipper?

[tomatous]

Floored. Keep it up marc, I love what you have done thus far.

[knitwit]

wowowow. watching with bated breath.