Wanting flashy jacket

and when I say copper colored, what I mean is the metallic copper, shiny appearance, with the two different threads that appears irridescent.

No, I'm not channeling Liberace.

Oh nooooo! Don't do it! Run away!

I know that stuff. I made a lined, fitted, sleeveless top out of it. The dry-clean only thing isn't the problem. This stuffs frays when you look at it. God help you if you have to adjust a seam.

Seriously. Just say "No".

Kathleen

"duh" wrote

Acetate basically fall apart when it gets wet. It can take no stress. That's why you dry clean it. Do not use acetate for outerwear.

What about silk shantung? Though the copper I saw wasn't dark enough. I'm looking for something that still looks masculine, even if I am wallking the foo-foo edge here.

And it doesn't tailor well/ If you want tailored, you need something you can shape, like a silk matke or wool.

Not sure I need that much tailoring, except maybe to put a bit more V to it. Two styles I'm thinking of would be either the old 50's suede jackets, with the, I don't know what you call it, the knit jersey stuff used for cuffs, and that for the collar too. Or a mandarin style jacket.

No, it doesn't tailor well; there's no natural give in the fabric as it's very tightly woven.

A heavy silk brocade might be better, but you still might have problems round the sleeve heads. Let me go gather some ideas...

Cotton velvet with silver embroidery:

My son's graduation gown (which was very cheap) was labelled acetate. It was also labelled "do not dry clean" and "do not wash." I think that's a way of saying "this is a disposable garment. Wear once and discard."

Way too much for me. Thanks though. Ok, maybe flashy is too big a word. That was why I wanted a dark more subdued color to balance the iridescent factor.

Something for warmth. Something functional. Something to go with jeans.

There's plenty of room to still look masculine while walking that "edge." Ever see Chris Isaak in concert?

Dupioni will fray some if you wash it. Also, the really shiny ones, like the metallic colors or the ones that look a little bit iridescent will lose some of the sheen when you wash them. It also tends to lose that crisp hand that it has.

Sharon

Hey, I'm already pretty. well, used to be, maybe 15-20 years ago. someone told me. before they asked to borrow money. But I digress...

Like a bomber jacket? WWII aircrew stuff?

How about making it out of some nice Tencel type stuff: waterproof, breathable, and you can use a hi-loft interlining to give it warmth. Some of those outdoors fabrics are quite shiny. Penny has a good list on her site of places to look for this kind of thing:

Dear Duh,

Wonderful pictures, but you're right--we still don't know what you look like. Try looking at some polyester taffeta to see if that gives the effect you want. It would have to be underlined and lined--maybe quilted.

Teri

Ick, no, not acetate! Make me sew burlap to chiffon with hairs from a horse's tail, but don't make me sew acetate!!!!

Now, as to outerwear... do you mean like a jacket for outdoors? If so, I'd suggest one of the iridescent nylon/polys Seattle Fabrics sells as "Silkara". There's a bronzey one that may suit.

In a few minutes on

As you can see there are a lot of questions to answer, but if you're really intent on this it may be possible on some level.

You've got some work ahead of you, AK in PA

Yes, outdoors jacket, or rather, some knock around thing. I don't dress up much, but wouldn't mind a jacket like that for a little pop sometimes. Cripes, next I'm going to start talking about accessorizing.

That fabric sounds promising. Unfortunately they don't really show any on the site, but it sounds like what I want. If the burgundy is dark enough, that might work too.

Thanks for the pointer.

I don't really know. The two ideas I have are either a mandarin jacket, but a solid dark color, or something I had as a hand me down in the

Tencel is waterproof? I like tencel, but it doesn't hold up well to the washer and dryer. At least not as long as cotton.

Yeah, I don't even know if I could find a pattern for what I want. I can't find any men's mandarin jacket patterns. I think I did see one, but I don't usually like their untailored shoulders.