More of breaking in of the Wested :)

[Ravenswood]

I am happy with the way things have "relaxed" with my 2010 Custom ROLA . I am convinced I wont get more length out of the sleeves, but that's quite alright. This jacket has been through the inquisitive eye of my friends and more importantly, my Mom. My mother has a heritage of esteemed seamstresses in her family, and she helped manage a clothing store for many years. I was certain if anyone would have a say anything about the length of the sleeves it would be her. She was quite happy with how it looked on me. She had no remarks about the sleeve length, but then again, she hasn't seen Raiders She even wanted to try it on! Sometimes I wonder how my jackets look so much better on other people! LOL. Perhaps it's just the excitement of seeing someone else in an Indy jacket, but I digress...
I have a pretty long torso, but VERY long monkey arms I think HF had a similar scenario going on, but not nearly as long arms as I have proportionately. Yeaa, I coulda done with some extra length, JUST to make it fit me like it fit HF in the movie, but no matter. It still passes for an extremely nice fitted jacket, and now it has relaxed into a more Raiders-ish look imo...So I thought I'd share!
Ravenswood


(L) straight out of the box 3/30 (R) about three months later

[Ian]

I dunno, I think that length is fine, IMO. What's the hide? It looks nice and light. I've got a custom Raiders in pre-distressed cow hide and it's really heavy, probably too much for an SA Raiders.

Looks great on ya sir!!! Goes very well with Eddie.

Ian

[Ravenswood]

Thanks Ian! And yup, I think it works GREAt with the concert T's!
It's authentic brown lambskin. Basically, I got the jacket right when the warm weather started coming on, so I have been wearing it every chance I got....right up until the thermometer read 80 degrees But I STILL wear it around inside the house as much as possible, heheh... I am looking forward to "roughing it up" when the temp gets more hospitable for jacket wearing, just like I did the last one I had (until it nearly disintegrated)...That was a 2003 Wested custom lambskin, and it shielded me from the elements lo those many years...
Granted, lambskin is not the leather of choice when it comes to grunt-work and scuffing up, but the stitching on the 2010 custom is re-enforced on the pockets, so it's got that going for it! Plus it's more fitted than Wested's previous custom offering (as per the '80s cut), so there should be less of the pockets getting snagged on things like door handles.

[Ian]

80 degrees!!!! Blimey, that's hotter than it ever gets here. Funny thing that I'm hoping for colder whether here in the UK so that I can wear my jackets.

You seem to have put some miles into the jacket - the sleeves look nice and creased at the elbows etc, although you don't seem to have lost any noticable lenght on the arms. The collar looks nice and bendy now.

Gotta admit, that I wear mine in the house when it's too hot outside - When I say too hot I mean 60 degrees. Not used to the heat in the North of UK.

I've just recieved a Novapella CS/LC. An awesome hide, but not really suitable for a Raiders, again IMO.

You still got the old one?

Ian

[Ravenswood]

Yup
Here's a link to some shots of the ol' '03 I took recently http://indygear.com/cow/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=46014
I let my roommate wear it for a night out!
You'll notice considerable rippage on one of the pockets...both in fact had been torn to shreds on the lower part of the side entry, always getting snagged on stuff...
And you'll also notice one of the pockets' finish has completely worn off. I will admit I do not prefer to "treat" my jackets, or get them professionally dry cleaned. I just wear them 'till they "disintegrate" I expect to do the same with my current ROLA, despite the delicate nature of the hide.

[Ravenswood]

...I will also add that the sleeves had undergone quite a bit of stretching on my part, to get as much extra length out of them as possible (which in this case, ammounts to about a half an inch, lol). And the jacket had been soaked a couple of times in the process, to bring out more of the character of the leather.

[Texan Scott]

Looks like quite a bit of wear for 3 mo. It's interesting how much more "defined" the pockets and features, etc. look after some wear. Sleeves look fine. If they fell at the wrists or shorter, I'd say you might have a little problem. Enjoy!

[Forrest For the Trees]

Yeah, I would guess that jacket was at least 3 years old!

[Hatch]

just to be clear you said the sleeves have been stretched......am I correct this was while they were well soaked and wet, if not you might want to try repeating

[Kt Templar]

You do have about an inch and a half that could be let out of the sleeves, but the line where the fold is will probably be permanent now.

[Indyzane]

Sweet looking jacket you have their!

[Ravenswood]

just to be clear you said the sleeves have been stretched......am I correct this was while they were well soaked and wet, if not you might want to try repeating

I did quite a bit of stretching when I was into it. This leather really wants to retract back to its original state. I have had better luck with a couple other Wested Lambskins while stretching the sleeves, but this particular jacket doesn't seem to want to give, and I'd rather not get too aggressive with that approach.

You do have about an inch and a half that could be let out of the sleeves, but the line where the fold is will probably be permanent now.

I am comfortable enough with the length at this point. I would rather keep a smooth profile and not futz with the cuffs the way they are. Besides, I have a feeling that it might start looking slightly comical if the length of the sleeves went significantly past the bottom hem of the jacket. As it is, the jacket has a great profile on its own; VERY Raidersy I would venture. So much so that that is almost all I see when looking at myself in it

Sweet looking jacket you have their!

THANKs Indyzane!

[Kevin Anderson]

The sleeve length is about spot on Raven, since the body-length-to-sleeve ration is just right; the sleeves are a good few inches longer than the body of the jacket, just like the screen one. You've just got longer arms than Ford, as you say!
That is one nice Wested.

[Noah]

Looks really good! Fits you nicely. Looks pretty worn for 3 months

[Renderking Fisk]

Remember, the more you wear your gear, the better it will wear.

[Michaelson]

Amen, brother!

Regards !Michaelson

[Ravenswood]

Thanks guys!
I noticed that this leather lent itself well to the soaking method. It being my first time doing it (out of eight jackets) I was trepidatious about using water purposefully on any leather jacket...let alone an Indy So I hung it on a hanger, and sprayed distilled and spring water on it, giving it a good soaking, especially in the sleeves. Each time I let it almost dry, then put it on, and wore it the rest of the day. The whole time I was tugging at the sleeves (and the rest of the jacket for that matter) and tried to work out some of the length and girth issues.
Ultimately, I think this leather has conformed to my body very nicely. It seems to have more of an elastic quality too...meaning that it will only give so far, sometimes a lot...but then a day or two later, be shrunk back up to pretty much the original length...but when it does, all this character comes out. Things start to dimple, bend and fold in really cool ways.

[Ravenswood]

And of course, regular wearing goes a long way...lots and lots of it!

[Holt]

very nice jacket! now lets see the back!

[Canyon]

Ravenswood, you want to break in that jacket? Just send it to me and I'll distress it with sandpaper.

[Ravenswood]

Ravenswood, you want to break in that jacket? Just send it to me and I'll distress it with sandpaper.

LOL! Thanks for the offer, but I must respectfully decline Canyon . I MIGHT go for it if it was a Last Crusade lambskin, however!

very nice jacket! now lets see the back!

THANKS Holt!! I really think I lucked out with this one! The collar in particular!
...OH! And the back! Here ya go

[Holt]

yep. they used the longer style collar on this one. good!

[backstagejack]

Looks great man. I have the same problem with the sleeve length....always have though. I normally wear a medium and some shirts I have to buy a large to accommodate my arm length....

My raiders Wested that I've had for 10 years "seems" to fit perfectly and the instant I raise my arms the sleeve slides back about 3-4 inches.....which to me is really annoying. I've actually stopped wearing it due to this

[Raskolnikov]

That's a great looking Wested. Congrats.

[Ravenswood]

THanks Raskolnikov!