badging a WWII Battledress jacket

[OC Richard]

I'm embarrassed to post this amongst all the amazing DIY things on XMarks, people making kilts and jackets and sporrans and bonnets and all.

But it is a DIY project of a sort, putting the badges on a Battledress jacket to make it WWII correct.

The background is that the 51st (Highland) Division in WWII had three brigades, 152, 153, and 154, and these were distinguished by one, two, and three red bars beneath the HD badge respectively. For my WWII Black Watch kit this would mean either 153 Brigade (5th BW) or 154 Brigade (1st and 7th BW). I decided to go with the latter.

This is not mine, but a photo of a couple jackets I found online, showing the badging of these units:



I got a pair of HD badges, piper trade badges, chevrons, BW tartan, some red felt, and some khaki wool, and began cutting and sewing.

Here are the BW tartan badges cut to the shape of the BW Glengarry badge, being sewn onto khaki backings. I decided to do this (rather than sewing directly onto the sleeve) to make it easier to shift the badges onto a different jacket in the future. This is sometimes seen on WWII photos.



Likewise I grouped the red bars and HD badge onto a single rectangular backing; this is seen sometimes in WWII photos.



Here are all the badges ready to go on the jacket.



Here's the finished jacket.



The kilt bows/rosettes and distinctive BW pattern spats were also DIY things. I also had to remove the cockade from the Glengarry, as the BW put their badge directly on the hat without backing.

Here's the DIY thread about the spats http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...h-spats-84836/

The jacket being worn at a WWII thing. The paratrooper there is an actual US Army paratrooper who jumps in a group that does WWII uniforms.



(For those pipers out there my pipes are c1900 RG Lawrie with sheepskin bag... no Gore-Tex!)

About my beard, WWII pipers would never have those... no, wait...