The Ultimate Outdoorsman's Coat

[alden]

I see that Old Henry posted a new video of his great 3/4 coat design over on his FB page.

https://www.facebook.com/frank.shattuck ... 899236779/

I always thought if anyone could design, draft and sew the Ultimate Outdoorman;s coat, Frank Shattuck, with his unrequited passion for the great Outdoors, would be that person. And I was right. If there ever was an example of functional elegance, this coat exemplifies it in spades. The front is refined simplicity. And the back is too,. But when you need it that back transforms itself to facilitate in a flash every of your movements and then transforms itself back again when you're in repose. I have never seen a coat action as well as this one as Frank's modeling demonstrates so well. So whether you are shooting woodcock or photos of the Golden Gate, this lovely design will move with your body in perfect utilitarian harmony.

I know from my own experience that 3/4 coats like this one get tons of use. Well at least the ones I have do. And while all my normal sportcoats suspended on their handmade Italian hangars plead to be taken out for a walk. It's the longer ones, worn with a roll neck sweater, a jaunty cap and colorful scarf that often get the call.

I am very glad Old Henry put this coat together and its pretty clear he enjoys wearing it too. Who wouldn't?

Nice job Frank.

Cheers

[old henry]

Michael, thank you very much. Along these lines I have just been commissioned to make a tweed shooting vest. Working collar, bellows pockets and game pouch. Of course completely benchmade. A great new adventure for me. Anyone have any suggestions ?

[alden]

Frank

Sounds like a great project. I

f it were an Upland shooting vest, I would love to see tweed cartridge loops, 6 on each side of the waist. Would be very cool.

Hand warmer pockets sewn behind the bellows pockets.

Quilted pad on the shooting shoulder. Hand sewn quilts are amazing. You often see them in vintage overcoats.

Looking forward to pictures...


Cheers

[old henry]

Hmmmm. All great ideas. Hand warmers 👌👌. Quilted pad ?? Need to find that

[couch]

Frank,

Here to spark your imagination are a few different shapes/approaches to the quilted shoulder on shooting waistcoats/gilets. The Chrysalis model, meant to pair with its field coat, has flat suede pads rather than quilted, presumably to reduce bulk. The vintage Bob Allen carries the substantial quilted suede down to the pocket (perhaps to cushion a gun at the ready with the stock resting on the hip?). I'll be interested to hear about the habits and preferences of your customer.

[old henry]

Thank You couch this is extremely helpful. I have saved the photos. This customer wants a practical but dapper Estate tweed shooting vest. I will use Scottish tweed and give it a strong lapel and collar. The collar will turn up high if necessary and button over. I’ll figure out a nice game pouch. The vest will be cut from his coat pattern. I’ll take out the front dart and straighten up the side seams. Yes, I need to find the quilted suede. He shoots two W.W. Greener.32 Gauge shotguns. Ever hear of a .32 ? I’m sure he’ll need a cap too.
Thank You again couch.
Frank.

[ddemarte]

Frank,

This is right up my alley. If I am at the club, I typically load 50 shells into one pocket for clays, so pockets need to be sturdy enough to hold them all. Some other details I would like:

Slightly longer length so the pockets are easy to access.
Angled besom hand warmer pockets above the bellows just below the chest
Front left breast pocket deep enough for my shooting glasses
Padded quilted shoulder patch (right or left side depending on the shooter) I may be able to provide you with leather or suede for this if you would like!
Epaulet on same side as patch (for carrying piece over the shoulder)
Stand up collar with separate throat latch piece to keep out the wind
Side vents, unless they interfere with the game pouch

No need for lapels, would look nice but may get in the way when shooting.
No need for action back, but would be a nice touch.
I would skip the individual shell pockets, I rarely ever use mine, my just be me though.

Will try and post some images later.

This one is aesthetically nice, but I would still want no lapels, longer cut with hand warmer and glasses pocket. I suppose the lapels would work if they were narrow enough not to get underneath the stock when mounting,




A quick hack job on Photoshop:


D-

[Melcombe]

What a really exciting project to contemplate !

I have a couple of shooting vests that follow a fairly standard pattern (as per the photographs above) and also a Chrysalis shooting coat. The vests are ideal for clay shooting and the like and the Chrysalis for formal driven game days (and occasionally to the office).

Both vests and coat have bellows pockets for cartridges – the coat with pocket flaps that hitch open on poppers to allow easy access.

I think both designs, while commonplace, do lack a certain practical element when it comes to the functionality of the garment. Plainly, in the case of a coat, protection from the elements is important - indeed the priority. The Chrysalis code includes a Gore-Tex inner layer to keep wet out and the outer layer is a reasonably robust tweed. The coat is very comfortable (as is the vest) – right up to the point that you put a box (or 2) of cartridges in each pocket. In the case of the coat, it pulls the front down so far that you have to stretch to actually reach into the pocket to get the ammunition.

Many years ago, I did give some thought as to how you might counteract this by cross-fertilising (!) the bellows pockets with a proper cartridge bag. The design that I thought might fit the bill was a coat which incorporates "floating" webbing straps joining substantial bellows pockets together across the wearer's shoulders. I have tried with very limited success to produce a diagram of what I think I mean.



In this design, one of the 2 straps emanating from the top of the pockets slips under the wearer's arm before going over their shoulder and down their front to join the top of the other pocket – the 2nd strap mirrors this so that you have the straps crossing at the nape of the neck. The floating straps being sewn into the lining, perhaps, and not into the outer shell fabric, sit snugly against muscle and bone while the coat is free to move with the wearers shooting action.

I think this would allow a wearer to actually carry a substantial weight without really noticing. I suspect that this design would work equally well with a vest as it would for a sleeved coat – but would perhaps be a more impressive product with sleeves? I'm thinking that raglan sleeves are always eminently practical in a shooting coat – unless you are prepared to go the whole hog and get a proper action-back?

What do you reckon?

[alden]

Frank’s original spec called for a “game bag” so my assumption was that a “hunting” vest was being designed as opposed to one for the shooting sports. And if the client were American, it is much more likely to be a vest destined for “rough shooting” upland game or water fowling as opposed to “driven” shoots.

The wide spacious bellows pockets a trap shooter might require would be a significant disadvantage to a hunter and would probably wind up torn to shreds the first day out in the brush. And if you are covering a lot of terrain by foot, chasing dogs, fifty cartridges in each pocket would require a high expenditure of energy to haul around. If you get close to a dozen shots on a day hunting wild birds, woodcock or quail, you will have had a sensational day. Prefer using your limited space and carrying weight for a top rated first aid kit complete with a tourniquet system, water and a GPS device.

I have a thirty year old Filson upland hunting vest that is just about perfect, and it's very well made. There must be photos of this classic design somewhere on the net or I will dig mine out if I can find it.

Here is a photo of the classic design with the half-moon front for easy access to the inner pockets and game bag even with gloves. There is a three large button closure on the vest with an inner gusset whereby the two lower buttons are closed with corresponding buttons holes in the gusset. Only the top button's button hole extends all the way through the gusseting to the exterior (as shown.) This means that in wet weather the vest can be closed and secured from the weather; and in normal weather only the top button used, and either one or both the the lower inner buttons left undone to provide easy access. The inner gusseting also opens into the inner compartments and game bag. Its a very practical design.

UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_9cf by The London Lounge, on Flickr

I think a lightweight piece of moleskin quilted by hand would be the trick for a hunting coat, unless it was for a duck hunter thundering out 12 gauge magnums or even 10s, in which case it would require padding underneath.

I very much like the idea of a protected/lined utility pocket for shooting glasses as shown on the Filson vest. It is so nice to take the glasses off to clean after a long trek and even nicer to be able to find them again.

Cheers

[old henry]

All excellent excellent information. This guy , as I say, has very special guns and wants a very special vest to go along. He does want the game pouch but for three quail or woodcock at most. I will pretty much just make him a coat without the sleeves. He only holds 25 - 32ga. Shells in his right pocket. And, as Michael says , he needs to carry a gps and a few other things. The doeskin is a great idea. I wonder if a thick 27oz flannel will work. And ddmarte, I am making a coat length vest but I will lower the pockets. And melcombe I will be putting a flap on the left bellows only and a deep breast pocket and an inside pocket alone with a few other pockets here and there. I must give him a beefy lapel and collar. I see it already. We will see. I’ll have Michael post photos of the project. Keep the advice coming. Thank you all.

[alden]

I just received the first images of the Ultimate Outdoorsman's vest and it is a beauty.

IMG_5295 by The London Lounge, on Flickr

IMG_5300 by The London Lounge, on Flickr

Nice work Frank!

[Luca]

Interesting project.

[Leonard Logsdail]

I've worked extensively in the shooting/hunting industry for a number of years now. This vest looks great, but form a practical point of view, you might find that the lapels would hinder the mount of the gun?? Now, I don't shoot that much and others might disagree here. It's just what I have been warned against by those who do shoot a lot. Something to think about anyway

[old henry]

Ddmarte mentioned this too ,Lenny, and I ran it by the customer but he didn’t seem to mind. But I will keep it in mind. Thanks 👌

[Screaminmarlon]

Might as well pop up the collar