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As far as I can tell from what I read (not first hand experience though, never used it, thus the 'experiment'), it is not swelling 'tight' to the point it becomes waterproof, and it is letting a bit more circulation of air. Losing waterproofing, but more breathable, and still windproof. I was...

Sooooo...I researched a bit the story with the 'sand coloured' smocks. There was never an official sand coloured version; they were all drab or camouflage. The 'sand' colour versions are the above, boiled for hours by the special forces folk operating in arid environments back in the day. They...

Fantastic! I have never tried dyeing fabric, and I want to attempt painting the 'brushstroke' camo the original smocks were made of in their camo version. I guess different from dyeing. Ever tried painting fabric with anything other than acrylics? Any ideas?

My first thought was 'Plastic exacts revenge'! We use a lot of jars, but much heavier, for pressure canning. I had to reinforce some of the kitchen unit shelves before I was happy enough to stack them full. Even the metal lugs holding them on the cupboard walls are of questionable strength, and...

Looks cast. Did you use the dremel to sharpen it? How heavy is it?

Yes, the flight jacket has turned into my firm favourite for winter everyday wear when out of the woods :)

Exactly same reason for starting here... every time I looked for clothes adjusted to my size (long), it was always turning into a "+£50 and non-returnable, thank you very much". When I made the first smock (the 'reversible ski parka'), it was the first time ever that I had a piece of clothing...

Spot on, that pattern is how I would change the 'original' if I wanted to modernise it; leaves space for the hip belt of the rucksack to ride over the bottom pockets, a full length zip and slightly more volume in the pockets. Makes perfect sense that they evolved that way. Neat work btw!

Sure. Here is a closer view of the smock, decent stitching and I think I ironed out some tension adjustment issues I had in the past. This one is from a commercial pattern, made it for my dad using the Merchant and Mills 'Landgate' smock pattern and in yellow P200 Hybrid Aero dry-wax cotton...

Nothing like a bit of Blanco :smile: Probably used tape as it was maybe easier to 'feel' with gloved hands and less fiddly than cord.

I have a Janome 360M 'New Home', I think it's from the 90s by the looks of it, still like new and very easy to fix things on. You can pick them up on ebay for around £25-100 depending on how shiny they are! Worth getting one if you find it, or something similar. Looks small and 'amateur', but I...

I think there is a lot of compromise in having one of these, as they really do lack a lot of features of a modern one (vents!), and also Ventile is maybe great on paper but too much of a compromise; it is not as waterproof as say goretex / etc, or as breathable as just a windproof cotton layer...

I couldn't have put it in a better way! As for the lack of 'features' like vents, pockets etc, I have three points on that. First, at least when I got mine, they were much cheaper than what one sees usually from other companies which are feature-loaded. As I started sewing my own stuff, I...

Aside from always wanting one and loving sewing, this one is more of a development piece; I wanted to prepare a pattern for maybe making these commercially in the future, but no sites etc yet. I have so far outfitted the whole extended family in Ventile and waxed cotton smocks, so I need some...

What do you find tricky with Ventile? I remember I found a few things frustrating at first when I starter with it, but this one worked fine -mostly. I use corespun polyester thread (a Coats Epic 80 works great), needle I think a denim one, and 2mm stitches. Very old Janome sewing machine, it...

I've had mine and matching trousers for about 6 years I think. Fantastic and very rugged, but no vents and it gets a bit much when you move. It is great for stalking and very slow movement or static, but i would never ever wear it for high intensity activity. A very useful point of them; they...

Just finished this! It is spot-on per the original; But with a couple of small deviations; -I made it in Antique Brone Ventile L24 -it does not have any double layers anywhere (originals have them on the shoulders and lower abdomen panels), as I find Ventile loses a lot of breathability...

Summer or winter? For anything other than summer, look at wool trousers. Big Bill Merino Cargo pants are awesome, best ever. Forger reinforcements, they are seriously bombproof. Another option is the Finnish Army M62 wool trousers, also in merino, but these days sadly very tricky to find...

Aristotle? Greek? The Sacred Band used those smocks in the Western Desert and probably the Aegean later in ww2. I wanted accuracy, so I went as far as eventually swapping the cords & locks for just ecru cotton tape, so now it looks identical to the original! I've actually moved the pockets a...

Just finished. A very accurate copy of the 'Smock, Windproof' 1940 pattern, aka the original 'SAS smock'. I've changed a few things since the pic was taken yesterday, to match details of pics of originals, but those were small details like replacing the cords with cotton tape, some bar-tack on...