In shopping for a tweed jacket and waistcoat soon.

[Richrail]

Richrail,

How much did you spend on having them converted if I may ask? I was quoted it's about $65 per jacket by a well-reputed and highly-recommended tailor.

I spent $50.00 plus $12.00 for postage. They were done xmarks member vmac3205, I don't know if she is still doing conversions or not. you could always PM her.

[McMurdo]

Several of my Argyll jackets were bought for $40.00 the Blue the Brown and the Burns Check each came in at between $40 and $60 no alterations needed, the Lovat Blue was purchased from another XMarks member the Brown was on consignment at a local tartan shop and the Burns Check was purchased from EBay.

[Nathan]

I have to back up what Glen said. If you are patient and also check ebay regularly, you should be able to find the genuine article for the cost of alternations. The less common your measurements, the longer you'll have to wait for your proverbial ship to come in. I caution you regarding conversions. They are certainly an option when no other choices are there, but they often look almost right rather than exactly right. If you can live with that, carry on. I'm too much of a virgo.

That said, if you're going for a conversion, here are some tips:

Conversions often have some tell tale signs. Here they are, and some potential solutions.
1) The proper stag horn or imitation stag horn buttons are rather pricey. You might be better off buying a used jacket that doesn't fit you off ebay, swapping out the buttons and reselling it.
2) The pockets are too low. Solution - If you take a regular, look for a short jacket. The pockets will be a little higher. Then, move the flaps higher again so they're just covering the pocket slit. This will provide the illusion that the pockets are the correct height on the jacket. Someone might suggest patch pockets because they are easy to move, but find me a tailored tweed Argyll with patch pockets if you can. I haven't seen one.
3) The waist taper or V of the jacket is too low - choosing a short jacket and letting out the sleeves will help with this somewhat but it could still look amiss. Some opt for a boxier cut jacket to allow your tailor to taper it to his or her liking. However, more alterations = more moolah.
4) The cutaway comes to a point rather than a smooth curve. This is often a result of trying to avoid a button hole. If you choose a three button jacket, you might get lucky and be able to cut off the third hole without cutting through it, depending on the spacing, height of the gorge and length of the jacket.
5) The gorge and therefore the button stance is too low. Again, choosing a short, three button jacket can help but they are as rare to find as the elusive kilt jacket so...
6) They often have a single vent in the centre, rather than a double vent on the sides. British cut Saxon tweed jackets usually don't have this issue, but Harris Tweeds made for the North American market during the boom in the textile's popularity almost all have a single vent. Kilt jackets basically never have a single vent. Can't I sew up the vent in the middle and add vents on the sides? No you cannot. There is insufficient fabric sewn into the sides to accommodate the lay over of a vent.
7) They lack the typical embellishments. While your tweed doesn't need gauntlet cuffs, epaulettes or scalloped pockets, adding these details help hide some sins (like a discoloured fold from where you let your sleeves out) and distract the knowing eye. If all the requisite embellishments are there and in order, one might be less likely to notice the curve is a bit off or the pockets are a touch low.

[Thekiltedmohawk]

Nathan, I greatly appreciate your tips! Yes, I'm on the lookout for a short coat to cut down on the tailor's cost.

[IsaacW]

I Agree with McMurdo and Nathan. I have been lucky (or not) to have found a lot of nice tweed kilt jackets (vintage) on eBay and from fellow Xmarkers at great prices. I have far too many jackets (and love it) and I have not paid more than $100 on any of them (actually I paid $108 on one but it had a matching waistcoat with it) including shipping. All have been in my size and needed no further alterations. The cheapest was actually $30. Ultimately, it is a real kilt jacket made to be worn with the kilt and with none of the problems in shape and size of the altered Saxon jackets.

Isaac

[Thekiltedmohawk]

Isaac. Can you do us a favor, and pluck a few Harris Tweed Sports Coats pics from EBAY, and use them as the guides of do's and don'ts? So, we all can get the ideas of what to look at while browsing EBAY? Just a thought.

[IsaacW]

what size are you? it might be fun to simply search eBay for a good kilt jacket for you. As for conversion jackets, plenty has been written here in the past by folks more knowledgeable.

[Thekiltedmohawk]

While I never have been measured by a tailor.. With a quick measure of my armpits to armpits. It's 43 inches. I do plan to go to a tailor to get the proper measure.

[Thekiltedmohawk]

I took a quick look on EBAY for Harris Tweed 44.

Here's the links for a few jackets I'm looking at.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-80s-...item235588b1a5

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harris-Tweed...item5422189608

http://www.ebay.com/itm/STAFFORD-Har...item3f4d90a13e

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MENS-VINTAGE...item1c50ff8b9a

[Todd Bradshaw]

This place is one of the mega-loads for cheap sport coats, either from their own site or on eBay. They tend to have a lot of tweeds, including some Harris Tweeds.
http://gkvintageclothing.com/

I think I might suggest visiting your tailor before buying a donor jacket or two. He (or she) is the one who will have to do the job and they might have some suggestions of what they would like to be working with. It also never hurts to get a feel for how enthusiastic (or not) your craftsperson is about the potential custom job.

Nathan had some great points, but I think expecting to come out with an authentic Scottish jacket is pretty unrealistic. You can certainly come out with a nice jacket that works fine and looks good, but trying to modify one to a point where the fashion police can't find some sort of technical flaws when compared to the Scottish originals is highly unlikely. The question then becomes how much does (or should) that matter to you? From what I've seen at Highland Games, if you simply have something that fits properly you are well ahead of about 2/3 of the people there, regardless of whether your jacket has patch pockets, a single vent in the back, etc. Those who want to nitpick such issues on a well fitting, nice jacket are free to do so, but probably aren't folks I'd care to hang around in the first place. If you can't find an authentic jacket used, and don't feel comfortable investing in a new one, then you're most likely going to need to make a few minor compromises, and that is what it is.

You may also want to be a little careful about buying shorts if you aren't. A lot of modern sport coats don't seem to give you as much extra that can be let out in the sleeves as used to be common. I'm 6'4" tall and no stranger to having to have sleeves let out on jackets. These days it isn't unusual to only be able to get an extra 3/4" or so before you run out of tweed, and you may also need to add an extension to the liner inside the cuff area just to do that.