Modified Tweed Kilt Jacket

[Panache]

I had been peering through all the online stores, bidding (without success) on ebay, and combing the thrift stores. All for a kilt tweed jacket or a regular cut tweed jacket to modify into a kilt jacket. After a couple of months I was getting a little annoyed with the whole subject. One evening my lovely wife asked me how my search for a used tweed jacket was going. She had offered to try to modify one for me using Alan H's instructions. I replied that I hadn't any luck. The jackets that fit me were all wrong to modify. "What are you looking for?" asked my beloved. "Something like this" I said pulling out a tweed coat out of my closet. My wife looked at the jacket and asked "Isn't that the Claiborne jacket you bought at Ross a couple of years ago for $30?" "Yes", said I. "You already have another tweed coat that I gave you for Christmas don't you?" "Err...yes", I replied. "That Claiborne coat only matches one pair of your pants doesn't it?", she asked sweetly. "Errrrrrrr.....yes", I said. "Why have you been searching for a coat to fix up when you can just use that one?" she asked in a somewhat sarcastic voice. At this point I have to admit that my flame haired lady, is in fact much smarter than I am. The only catch was she was a little reluctant to hack into a coat I really liked (even though it was seldom worn).

The solution presented itself while taking my son to his karate class. I had passed the tailor in the mall several times on the way to Little Gym. I stopped by and spoke with the tailor about what I wanted. Mr. Nader asked if he could see the coat and a picture of what I wanted. I returned next week, kilted, with jacket and pictures from Alan H's site in hand. He shortened the coat, closed the slash pockets, used the extra material to make epaulets, and flaps for the pockets (which made them appear higher on the jacket).

Here are some pictures.

Here's before:




And here's after:



Mr. Nader had the jacket ready in week (just in time for the Belmont Kilt Night). The cost was $85, exactly as promised. I was very pleased with the results. Alan H. gave it his stamp of approval. Of course there's still Hamish

For any of you here or near Santa Clara I would like to recommend my tailor.

Muia's Custom Tailoring'
Jawid Nader
Princeton Plaza
1375 Blossom Hill Road #27
San Jose, CA
95118
(408) 266-5507

A tweed kilt jacket for 1/4 of the price of a new one. Not too bad. So what do you think?

Cheers

[Rex_Tremende]

A tweed kilt jacket for 1/4 of the price of a new one. Not too bad. So what do you think?

Lovat! Green with envy!

Regards,
Rex in Cincinnati

[Iolaus]

Wow, the one tailor I talked to said something like $140 to alter a $35 coat; I'm gonna have to look around a little more!

Nice job, BTW; looks good.

[Panache]

Wow, the one tailor I talked to said something like $140 to alter a $35 coat; I'm gonna have to look around a little more!

Nice job, BTW; looks good.

Actually it would have been much less if I hadn't wanted the epaulets or pocket flaps. When you are checking out tailors I recommend wearing your kilt and bringing in several photos of what you are looking for.

[Alan H]

The guy did a great job and the jacket looks excellent...gets first hand stamp of approval, here. For anyone in the Bay Area thinking of doing this, I would definitely take Panache's jacket as a high recommendation.

[Scottish Chi]

It appears that your tailor is a "keeper". Very nice job. After reading that some folks have tried this I have been very curious if it can really be done effectively. Showing the before and after pictures gives a very nice idea of how well the conversion was done. Thanks.

Cheers! Bill

[Bob C]

Looks great! Congrats.

[TechBear]

Kudos to your tailor! I hope you tipped him well in case another inexpensive jacket ends up in your hands; he looks like a keeper.

[andyfg]

Panache, really good job. When I had one done I couldn't get the tailor to make the sporran cut away for some reason. I like the look very much.