Burberry type jackets - lots of canvas?

[crazy1503]

Ive been looking through pintrest for inspiration on coat design (winter is nearly here down-under), and it seems to me that the usual advice on womens jacket and coat construction - to be as soft and light as possible, with either no horsehair or only minimal canvas, and always as light as or lighter interlining than the fabric - is not the case in these pics. I happen to like the very stiff shaped look, but was wondering what your thoughts are on how it is done in these examples. Obviously a full canvas, but floating? fused? Stiffer than the fabric? Whats the best way to emulate this look for clients?

[hutch--]

From a casual look at the three photos, my guess would be fused if any stiffening is used at all. The top two have that shaped look while the bottom one does not. I imagine it will have a lot to do with the fabric you choose and one of the problems these days is to find something heavy enough for a winter coat. I own a very good 1970s mens retro Burberry trench coat that is made of a wool gabardine and it is not in the double breasted style but a single button row which I personally prefer. It definitely does not feel like it is stiffened with a canvas or similar.

Depending on what you want it too look like, if you can find a decent heavy tweed and use a lining that is a bit heavier, I don't see why you cannot make a long coat that is both warm enough and stylish.

This is what the retro Burberry looks like.

[crazy1503]

Id prefer a coat to look warm but not actually insulate much at all - its too hot here in Perth! Ive made myself a wool coat with a small amount of cotton interlining which I can actually wear a fair bit, as the wool fabric is a loose weave and lets excess heat out. Every RTW coat Ive ever bought is too hot to wear for long unless youre outside on a winters night.

If those Burberry coats are fused, Im really disappointed. Youd think for the $1500 - $3000 price tags they would be made differently.

[posaune]

I think they fused the whole front and sewed (or fused) a "plack"into front for the shoulder part. The upper back (till armhole ends) may be fused with a lighter interfacing as the hems too.  The Front seam, the armholes the neckline and the roll line will be stabilizied with some "Nahtband".
For the weight and type of the interfacing and how it acts there is only one way to find out, test it. It depends on the fabric.
I personal like to use a "Raschel" because it has a nice way to stabilize without beeing stiff.
But if you couture it or do bespoke you will use other materials.
lg
posaune
lg
posaune

[peterle]

To me the fabric of the red and white coat seem to be very felted/milled wool. Like Loden with hardly any shift wich is quite stiff by itself. These will most probably be too warm for your purposes.

Some vocabulary:
Nahtband= seaming tape
Plack= horse hair chest piece

[hutch--]

It is an interesting dilemma, a garment that is a stiff coat by appearance yet light enough and breathable in a warm climate like Perth. There are certainly a range of super 100 and lighter wools available but the lack of stiffness would make them hang in a way that would not look like the type of coat you are after unless you had some form of framework to stiffen it up which will make it hotter to wear in that climate. Perhaps shaping in the upper chest, lapels and shoulders selectively would go some of the way to getting the right appearance and I would be inclined to look at lightweight flexible bonding to keep it light enough and still reasonable cool to wear.

[crazy1503]

I have some Italian light/medium weight wool with a slight nap, and a cotton wool tweed that Im going to have a go at. I might do one the way posuane suggests, with canvas and light fusible, and the other a bespoke version with a proper full canvas and see how they look. I need to make samples for work anyway, so I can afford to experiment! Ill let you know if I manage to get them to look like the pics above!

[Greger]

You might want to look at this 1973 book from Poulin.
https://archive.org/details/pdfy-6x5RRDlrC8nRAeWc
He shows a fuller canvas construction. The coat pattern, if you can fit it, then you should be able to adjust it into different styles. Sometimes to add extra strength for shape all you need is to add a scrap of pocketing and pad stitching and how you apply edge tape. Some manufacturers add in extra canvases, but if you are doing custom fit, you shouldn't need them. Then there is shaping with an iron. The problem with fuse is that you can't shape the cloth with an iron.

Hosteks book shows adding a strip of thin canvas that is cut on the curve, then forcing it onto a straight line.  This adds shape. The curve is adjusted to need.

[pfaff260]

This looks a bit like the white coat.

[posaune]

How nice, Pfaff260. Thank you.
it has even a german translation my french is lousy.
Maybe Hutch can transfer it? It should under a pattern thread. Maybe in the reference chapter  a child pattern?
lg
posaune

[crazy1503]

That book is great Gregor, thankyou!! Ive been padstitching canvases all day
I love that coat pattern Pfaff, thankyou!!!! Im going to give that one a go, I have the perfect fabric for it too!

[Henry Hall]

You have a little treasure chest of patterns Pfaff.