Step II – Taking measurements

Alright, out of nothing but the need to get rid some of the stress I’m currently under in RL, I’m going to update here. In case anyone’s reading, don’t fear I’ve dropped off the face of the earth or anything, I only have to take a kind of final (like ultimately final) exam soon, and therefore can’t spare any resources to the coat project right now.
Or almost none, cause I WILL tell you which measurements we’ll be needing to construct our basic made-to-measure Ulster pattern for the Milford…

So, here we go (thumbs through her ancient, expensive, clever book), ladies and gentlemen. Take your tapes, grab a friend or family member and find out the following measurements:

Kg (German Körpergröße = height)
Ow (G Oberweite = chest circumference)
Uw (G Unterweite = waist)

These are the so-called Hauptmaße (major measurements). The following measurements will be needed as well, and we’ll calculate them or decide upon them when we start drawing our pattern:

Rh (G Rückenhöhe = “length of back”)	1/8 OW +1/4Tl
Tl (G Taillenlänge = “length of waist”)	1/4 Kg +1 cm
Lg (G Länge = length)
At (G Armlochtiefe = depth of armhole/armscye)	Rh +1,5 cm
Rb (G Rückenbreite = breadth of back)	2/10 OW +1 cm
A’d (G Armlochdurchmesser = diameter of the armhole/armscye)	1/8 OW +3 cm
Hs (G Halslochspiegel = width of neck opening)	1/20 OW +3 cm
B (G Brustbreite = width of chest)	if OW < 100 cm: 1/4 OW -1 cm if OW 101-111 cm: 1/4 OW -1,5 cm if OW >112 cm: 1/4 OW – 2 cm
Bau (G Bauchbreite = width of belly)	1/4 UW +1,5 cm

Well, you can easily see from the measurements required that this IS indeed a coat for men *g* So I’ll probably not be working with my real measurements in some instances since the Ulster is not meant to be “fitting” in the usual sense of the word… Fortunately, the book offers a lot of average measurements for different heights etc. Well, we’ll see…

Step I – Deciding on a pattern

Things are beginning to come together! I have eventually managed to get hold of that men's tailoring book I've been searching for years (Der Zuschnitt für die Herrenschneiderei – System M. Müller) and to my utter delight, there is a pattern that's absolutely ideal as a basis for the Milford!
The Ulster coat included there is perfect in every respect, all I'll have to do is adding the pleats in the back and those welt-pockets on the front 🙂

After finding this article here on the characteristics of an Ulster, I think it's safe to say that the Milford IS an Ulster variation…

Characteristics of an Ulster Coat

• A classic Ulster is rather long and double breasted, with two  vertical, parallel rows of buttons. Often the ulster comes with a 6×3 or 8×4 button configuration while the buttons are placed quite low.
• Usually a double breasted garment has peaked lapels. The Ulster however has lapels that are notched in a certain way, so they can easily be folded over when the coat is buttoned up all the way. This is also known as the Ulster collar.
• In order to express the informal country character of the overcoat, the Ulster has always patch pockets.
• For the same reason, an Ulster shows contrast stitching along the edges and cuffs.
• You will always see cuffs on a true Ulster.
• Generally, the Ulster is cut rather roomy and hence may look a little bulky sometimes. In order to give the silhouette a little more shape, the Ulster usually has a belted back (aka half belt) with adjustable buttons so the wearer can change the degree of the waist suppression. For comfort and ease of movemnt, an Ulster has  long pleats in the back. Sometimes you can also see a belt that goes completely around and buckles in the front – just like a trenchcoat.
• A genuine Ulster is made out of tweed, more specifically Donegal Tweed. This heavy tweed – starting at about 22 oz. per yard (about 600 g per meter) – was originally invented in Donegal County in the province of Ulster. It is characterized by its rustic, hand-woven look as well as its multi-colored dots.

So, grab your measuring tapes and prepare to get some measuring done soon!

Supplies list

I guess it does make sense to give an overview of the materials I’ll be using once I actually start sewing. So here we go:

• 5.80 m of alfatex’s 100% wool tweed (see below)
• Lining: Not decided yet, possibly this serge from folhoffer.eu or this thick one from tolkostoffe.de
• Interfacing: Thinking about using some medium weight interfacing, like this one here, to give my rather light tweed more body.
• Front interfacing: Hair canvas
• Volume fleece: Depending on how the fabric falls and whether or not it appears warm enough, I might use this Vlieseline fleece, as well.
• Plaque for padding

Fabric on its way (I hope!)

So, this’ll be the one I’m going to use. I’ve had the good luck to get the last 6 m… But they’ll probably re-stock when autumn/winter fabric will be in more demand again, or that’s what the woman on the phone said.
So, what do you think?

And this is a close-up of the original:

Sources & Inspiration

I've been keeping my eyes open for some of the great sewing folk out there in the web to post about their attempts at and experience with re-making the COAT.

Only this week though I finally found jessamygriffin's lovely, adorable, simply irresistible blog on LJ which was what had me decide that I was really going to do this – and made me believe that this was not just another completely daft idea I should drop again as quickly as possible…

So I'll collect the web sources I will or might use here:

• jessamygriffin's blog – the absolute reference
• The great bunch at The Replica Prop Forum
• An interesting little site of Jack Schmidling Productions on the underconstruction of men's jackets/coats I might very well consult at some point
• A short, to-the-point Youtube how-to on basting hair canvas to the outer fabric

And these are my books and other non-web-based resources:

• Der Zuschnitt für die Herrenschneiderei – System M. Müller
  Cutting in Men's Tailoring – System M. Müller

First steps taken

Well, I have no illusions about getting any serious sewing done before the summer holidays but I’ve started looking for and collecting materials.

After hours spent searching for a halfway decent fabric over the last few days I could’t believe my luck when I found this one on alfatex yesterday! I mean from what I read in different forums the original fabric has been extremely elusive so far and finding a good substitute is one of the major problems for those who tried replicating the coat!
The alfatex tweed looks a LOT like the original I think but I’ll let you know if it’s as good a match as it appears to be on the photo.

I’m slowly getting the impression that the buttons will actually turn out to be the biggest problem…

Decision made

So, it’s decided now. I WILL have THE COAT. In capital letters. AKA The Belstaff Milford, or the ‘Sherlock Coat’.

If you don’t know which one I’m talking about… You’re probably wrong here, actually 😉

We’re talking this one: