S.E.H Kelly

[sehkelly]

Pictures look great and maybe because of the knots you've tied your fingers into I find myself intrigued by this one when collarless jackets are not usually my thing (especially when said collars are as well crafted as yours tend to be).

Also tempted to buy one just to provide some positive reinforcement to your exploration of color. I'd like to see that "subdued, murky" predilection applied to hues other than blue, brown, and grey.

The engineer jacket is built like a back-to-front version of our field jacket, if it helps paint the picture ... although that was back-to-front itself so perhaps the engineer jacket is technically the right way round. Oh dear me.

And but what other murky colours do you suggest, dear sir?!

I like to think I am open-minded but can only take a few paces from grey in any direction!

 

[ojaw]

You may be one of the few makers that could pull off puce, but don't go there for my sake.

 

[NO MERCY]

Well, while I would recommend never referring to a color as "puce" in product copy, it's not a terrible direction to head in. The "molasses" gansey has hints of purple in the right light that are great, and all those colors bruises are mottled with can be good jumping off points.

Very, very dark iterations of red and purple. Very light grey-greens. Brighter, punchier versions of 'rust'.

Spoiler

I don't think any of that stuff is too far out of your wheelhouse, and probably at one time or another you've done most of it.

 

[sehkelly]

Well, while I would recommend never referring to a color as "puce" in product copy, it's not a terrible direction to head in. The "molasses" gansey has hints of purple in the right light that are great, and all those colors bruises are mottled with can be good jumping off points.

Very, very dark iterations of red and purple. Very light grey-greens. Brighter, punchier versions of 'rust'.

Spoiler

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I don't think any of that stuff is too far out of your wheelhouse, and probably at one time or another you've done most of it.

Hang on!

Half of those photographs are off our website.

Just kidding.

We have narrowed our palette over the past few years, and are quite dogged in finding the right shade / hue (testing the patience of dyers when we're trying to come up with our own colours for things). I especially like rust and "burnt orange" (presuming this term is still in vogue and I haven't aged myself terribly) and am always on the look-out for them.

Those references you've posted will be stuck in my head for some time, and I'll keep them in mind for sure when we're looking at cloth and colours over the next few weeks.

 

[sehkelly]

I'm flaunting our "one thing at a time" policy here, but while the engineer jacket has for one reason or another not yet made its way online, I've been busying myself with the new, revamped car coat.

It's quite a different specimen for its previous incarnation, though the underlying idea is much the same. There's quite a rich seam of car coat lore and history (with a high point in British culture around the time of Arthur Daley in "Minder" through the 1980s) and we realised we could do more to make our car coat more truly "car coat-y".

It now has a set-in sleeve, but making up for the loss of movement versus its old raglan form with an underarm gusset. It also has a turn-back collar, which makes it look a little smarter, and pockets now positioned higher up, in the seam, to affect a more used-car-salesman aspect when the time feels right.

The cloth is the weatherproof ripstop has used recently for the parka. It's a wonderful material and one which I hope to keep rolling out for years and years to come.

At this rate it might jump ahead of the engineer jacket, and find its way online tonight.

[Edit — Turns out Arthur Daley didn't really wear a car coat after all. Must be thinking of someone else.]

 

[Thibault S]

There will indeed.

(Are we that predictable?)

The SB3 part of the equation is being cut tomorrow, and the trousers (standard style, with the belt detail) likely next week sometime.

We have another really good tropical worsted ("summer wool") on our hands. Similar to last year in weight and texture, but a very intricate plain-weave of two complementary shades of yarn which together have the effect of a very precise grid. There's a supremely dark navy and a middling-to-dark grey. They were custom-woven for us, in the west of England, and they touched down at the workshop only this morning.

Shall I make a note to bother you when they're ready?

Hello Paul,
Would it be any proper trousers to match the new jackets?
Hoping you’re doing fine.

 

[sehkelly]

Hello Paul,
Would it be any proper trousers to match the new jackets?
Hoping you’re doing fine.

Very well indeed, thank you, Thibault.

I spent the day wrestling with the new car coat, and overseeing development of a new popover shirt (which looks quite nice even rendered in cardboard; pictures to follow).

The trousers matching for the SB3 next week are not proper, but standard. We are making the proper trouser, in a few weeks, but in linen and in cotton, rather than the worsted.

 

[Thibault S]

Busy day! Very willing to see the cardboard of the popover.

Linen and cotton sounds great too for proper style.
Maybe it is a signal for me to experiment the standard variety of your trousers offer.

Thank you

 

[sehkelly]

The standard is only very slightly more narrow in the leg than the proper, and once you look past the extended belt (of the standard) vs. the side-tabs (of the proper) they're identical in shape around the waist and seat.

And yes -- up with cardboard! It's a great way to test whether the development has the best shape and balance, because you can't easily manipulate (cheat) with cardboard like you can with cloth. And the points where the cardboard doesn't want to go -- they rip. And thus you know where the points of undue stress are and can thus, hopefully, remedy them.

 

[Thibault S]

The standard is only very slightly more narrow in the leg than the proper, and once you look past the extended belt (of the standard) vs. the side-tabs (of the proper) they're identical in shape around the waist and seat.

And yes -- up with cardboard! It's a great way to test whether the development has the best shape and balance, because you can't easily manipulate (cheat) with cardboard like you can with cloth. And the points where the cardboard doesn't want to go -- they rip. And thus you know where the points of undue stress are and can thus, hopefully, remedy them.

That is a good reason to go for it, then

It sounds fascinating. It’d be interesting to spend some days of observation with you

 

[moimael]

I'd love to see your take on a snowstorm coat at some point (Grenfell is the only brand I know of still doing some: https://grenfell.com/collections/overcoat/products/snowdonia-keepers-tweed-with-alpaca-lining-brown). It's a very rare but stunning garment.

 

[sehkelly]

I'd love to see your take on a snowstorm coat at some point (Grenfell is the only brand I know of still doing some: https://grenfell.com/collections/overcoat/products/snowdonia-keepers-tweed-with-alpaca-lining-brown). It's a very rare but stunning garment.

Thanks for the tip! I'll have a look at that.

 

[sehkelly]

... in other coat news, the new car coat is now live at https://www.sehkelly.com/shop/.

As is the engineer jacket.

 

[Superb0bo]

Will the Parka "Major" (long version) return this year? I was considering it last time around but missed it then. But have a feeling it would be perfect for life in Amsterdam.

 

[sehkelly]

Will the Parka "Major" (long version) return this year? I was considering it last time around but missed it then. But have a feeling it would be perfect for life in Amsterdam.

I'd say there is a more than decent chance of that.

Either in weatherproof ripstop or a very nice, sturdy, and impressively deeply dyed stay-wax cotton canvas (recently discovered).