The Stirling

The sleeves crease up more than I expected, so they're coming down a centimetre, to 66cm. The melton, the silk and the press studs go to the studio next week for the first sample in the real cloth.

My notes on the digital pattern have gone back. Antique brass press studs instead of buttons, a zig-zag stitch on the hidden side of the placket and under the collar, a 4mm topstitch and bar tacks on the pockets.

The Stirling's new pattern is finished in digital form, and today I saw it in 3D for the first time.

The cloth is chosen: Pennine Fabrics' lambswool melton in dark bottle green, at 340gsm. That's less than half the weight of the cavalry twill that made the first sample so stiff. It will be lined in a mulberry silk twill from Beckford Silk, in a green called Lush Meadow.

Sampling the Stirling has been slow, and I need to speed it up. So it's moving to a sampling studio that drafts patterns digitally, which means I can see the jacket in 3D before anything is cut.

I caught up with Jack at Pennine Fabrics this morning. He's sending me out a handful of samples that he thinks will work for Barnfield. At least one of them has caught my attention - a 360gsm lambswool melton felted and dyed in Yorkshire.

Jonathan has spent twelve hours reworking the Stirling's pattern, and it's in the post.

The first sample is back from Bolton, and the cloth is the problem. At 750gsm, the cavalry twill makes it feel more like a leather or suede jacket. The cuffs need more room, the shoulder seam pinches, and the collar refuses to sit down, so I'd permanently look like Danny Zuko from Grease. With some pattern tweaks, I can still see it working.

The tech pack for the Stirling has gone to Bolton. After the lining trouble on the peacoat, I've asked them to check the pleat at the centre back and the ease in the lining at the hem before they cut.

Everything for the first sample is on its way to the factory in Bolton. The card pattern, two metres of Hainsworth cavalry twill, the linings, the buttons and the rib for the cuffs.