The London Lounge

I am having a coat made out of the lovely Molloy Donegal tweed and am debating with myself whether to go for a felt lining under the collar (the standard approach) or use the tweed cloth there instead?

What do the eminent members here choose for their tweeds?

Thanks,
BB

Dear BB,

nothing speaks against using the tweed if you have enough cloth - all my tweed coats are made this way. I don't know where the felt lining tradition is coming from - perhaps from WWII rationing? Some old tailor might know.

Some people like to play using contrast felt. I find it as tasteful as unbuttoning sleeve buttons

Cheers, David

davidhuh wrote:I don't know where the felt lining tradition is coming from - perhaps from WWII rationing?

Much earlier than that. I've just checked my older items (1890-1920) and all have the back of the collar in a different cloth.

That's interesting. Does the felt serve another purpose, for example does it help the back of the collar retain its shape better than other materials?

bond_and_beyond wrote:That's interesting. Does the felt serve another purpose, for example does it help the back of the collar retain its shape better than other materials?

It must have, or have had, a technical purpose, helping to achieve a wanted result. It must be a relic of the time when summer-weight was 650grams and you want the back of the collar to be thinner or bend more easily than a double layer of thick cloth, I first thought. But the practice is invariably retained and found on garment of lighter (=normal) weight as well.

davidhuh wrote:Some people like to play using contrast felt. I find it as tasteful as unbuttoning sleeve buttons

I find the whole contrast details / loud linings fashion tacky.

Just discussed this with my tailor, and he told me that the melton / felt lining was used as it gives a sharper finish as it stretches better than most cloth. In addition, as the Molloy is so heavy, if we went for self lining, the collar would be a bit thicker, like that on an overcoat. He was happy to do either, but I chose to go for the melton / felt for the sharpness (though perhaps that is not so important on a tweed coat ) and the thickness of the collar.

BB

bond_and_beyond wrote:Just discussed this with my tailor, and he told me that the melton / felt lining was used as it gives a sharper finish as it stretches better than most cloth. In addition, as the Molloy is so heavy, if we went for self lining, the collar would be a bit thicker, like that on an overcoat. He was happy to do either, but I chose to go for the melton / felt for the sharpness (though perhaps that is not so important on a tweed coat ) and the thickness of the collar. BB

The Molloy tweed also stretches quite a lot, so the only issue would be the resulting thickness. I also went for the Melton.

I had had the collar on my Barleycorn Tweed (made by Molloy and even heavier than their standard cloths) self-lined and I don't see any problem with it at all. I also had the lapels made slightly bigger than normal with a button underneath so the collar can be raised, and the lapels closed and buttoned on a cold day. I haven't actually needed to do this yet, but I think it gives the coat some extra versatility. I don't think it would look very nice if you did this with a felt-lined collar, though. It takes about an extra 0.3 m. of fabric for the self-lined collar and bigger lapels.

bond_and_beyond wrote: to go for a felt lining under the collar (the standard approach) or use the tweed cloth there instead?

Kayak81 wrote:I had had the collar on my Barleycorn Tweed (made by Molloy and even heavier than their standard cloths) self-lined and I don't see any problem with it at all.

I agree 100% with Kayak81. All the plain donegals from Molloy & Sons are at around 20 oz. The herringbones are even heavier.
But...they are really flexible. I don´t see any problem with self lining a collar. On the contrary. I believe that any jacket at that weight should be cut with a collar you can turn up and it would look much more natural (same colour and thickness) if the under collar material is the same that under the lapels.