S.E.H Kelly

[sehkelly]

Not sure if this is the best place but does anyone have a SMALL maybe XS of this smock version they would like to sell? I think I like 2 button style over 1 button style of the sleep shirt. Also that diamond gusset hmm

It's a good place to ask ... but you might find them thin on the ground, to be honest! We made very few of them, you see.

The sleep shirt actually was meant to inherit the two-button front of the old smock, but the nature of how it is made (the seam running across the front is an extension of the armhole, in a strange manner of speaking) made it impossible, or at least not without having a very low and restricting armhole.

The diamond gusset was fun, and we have an idea for a new mid-layer next year that might appropriate it.

 

[sehkelly]

Here are some new photographs of the smock of this year, by the way — which is arguably more smocky than the smock of last year, for better or worse, likely because of its lack of buttons.

 

[ridgerider]

Pre-orders were about half the total number of balmacaans we'd expect to sell in a given season.

It's been great fun so far.

We're mercifully not incentivised by sales -- though of course if this fell flat on its face, we'd think twice! -- but it is certainly the type of thing we'd like to try again one day. (But first let's see this project through!)

I for one am glad you offered them and look forward to wearing mine this winter. Thanks for making the special offer.

 

[breakaway01]

I like most of what you produce, but the SEH Kelly peacoat is absolute perfection. I can’t think of another item in my possession that is more perfectly what it is supposed to be than your peacoat.

Based on your recommendation I went ahead and picked up the peacoat. It is really excellent. Thank you. I usually wear a US 36 in most items but based on the measurements, sized up to size S.

It will be replacing a vintage US Navy peacoat, which I've worn for years now but whose fabric I find to be unforgivingly stiff and less warm than one would expect for the weight.

 

[sehkelly]

Based on your recommendation I went ahead and picked up the peacoat. It is really excellent. Thank you. I usually wear a US 36 in most items but based on the measurements, sized up to size S.

It will be replacing a vintage US Navy peacoat, which I've worn for years now but whose fabric I find to be unforgivingly stiff and less warm than one would expect for the weight.

Terrific to hear!

Thanks very much for taking the time to let me know.

The melton we use for the peacoat is certainly softer and more pliant than a typical vintage / military one — but hopefully no less warm for it.

 

[sehkelly]

One of the coats we have coming up for the autumn is this: the field coat.

It's the first time we've made it for about three years (I think) and over that time, I've made many "notes to self" to tweak it here and there. Sometimes such lists are inordinately long, but for the field coat, despite so many months having passed, it was mercifully short — which is surely a sign of either a sound design in the first place or being bereft of creativity.

This is a test of the newest version. The only difference to the eye are the rounder, larger pockets. Indeed, most of the work for the new version came in what can barely be seen even to a keen-eyed owner, with a "poacher's pocket" hidden between the twin vents at the back. There is a long and illustrious history of such coats (and hunting jackets and the like) having poacher's pockets, and we enjoy trying to conceive the most devious-possible locations for them. On this occasion, I'll admit we bit off more than we could for some time chew, and devising this pocket took nine-tenths of the total development time.

We've also been working on a new mid-layer (the hospital shirt) and revising the sleep shirt and smock in preparation for (gulp) next spring.

In other news, the balmacaan is very much on track for September: we heard from the mill in Donegal today that the yarn has just arrived and so weaving can begin. And the very, very early production of peacoats has continued, with a fresh influx of stock to the website last week.

 

[Spaghettimatt]

One of the coats we have coming up for the autumn is this: the field coat.

View attachment 1629816

It's the first time we've made it for about three years (I think) and over that time, I've made many "notes to self" to tweak it here and there. Sometimes such lists are inordinately long, but for the field coat, despite so many months having passed, it was mercifully short — which is surely a sign of either a sound design in the first place or being bereft of creativity.

This is a test of the newest version. The only difference to the eye are the rounder, larger pockets. Indeed, most of the work for the new version came in what can barely be seen even to a keen-eyed owner, with a "poacher's pocket" hidden between the twin vents at the back. There is a long and illustrious history of such coats (and hunting jackets and the like) having poacher's pockets, and we enjoy trying to conceive the most devious-possible locations for them. On this occasion, I'll admit we bit off more than we could for some time chew, and devising this pocket took nine-tenths of the total development time.

We've also been working on a new mid-layer (the hospital shirt) and revising the sleep shirt and smock in preparation for (gulp) next spring.

In other news, the balmacaan is very much on track for September: we heard from the mill in Donegal today that the yarn has just arrived and so weaving can begin. And the very, very early production of peacoats has continued, with a fresh influx of stock to the website last week.

Love the field coat, Paul, and can’t wait to see the poacher’s pocket. I like that you’ve sort of combined the best features of the Bedale and Beaufort by including both vents and pocket.

On the subject of wax jackets, have you guys ever toyed with an SEH Kelly take on a Trialmaster/International 4-pocket thing?

 

[icasio]

One of the coats we have coming up for the autumn is this: the field coat.

And the very, very early production of peacoats has continued, with a fresh influx of stock to the website last week.

Fresh influx of navy peacoats? Or additional colors?

 

[sehkelly]

Fresh influx of navy peacoats? Or additional colors?

Mostly the former, but we have made a handful in slate blue, too (see https://www.styleforum.net/threads/s-e-h-kelly.277070/post-10742924).

The slate is slightly thicker than the dark navy, so the whole coat looks and feels chunkier.

They're not yet online, and won't be for some time, but are nevertheless immediately available.

 

[sehkelly]

Love the field coat, Paul, and can’t wait to see the poacher’s pocket. I like that you’ve sort of combined the best features of the Bedale and Beaufort by including both vents and pocket.

On the subject of wax jackets, have you guys ever toyed with an SEH Kelly take on a Trialmaster/International 4-pocket thing?

Cheers!

We have a new coat upcoming which in my mind at least is a complement to the field coat — occupying the same sort of "country-wear but not in the countryside" territory.

As for the four-pocket question — we do have the field jacket, which we released a few years ago, and which has quite a lot of overlap with that sort of style, with the stand collar and patch pockets at chest, but is closer to an M65 field jacket or British combat smock. I have a preference more for that world than that of Trialmaster / International one.

It (our field jacket) had the fortune / misfortune of being made in a very complicated way, and so for the adjustments I'd like to make to it, well ... it's a lot of work — which has seen it sidelined for rather longer than I'd like.

One for 2022, maybe!

 

[RCD33]

One of the coats we have coming up for the autumn is this: the field coat.

View attachment 1629816

It's the first time we've made it for about three years (I think) and over that time, I've made many "notes to self" to tweak it here and there. Sometimes such lists are inordinately long, but for the field coat, despite so many months having passed, it was mercifully short — which is surely a sign of either a sound design in the first place or being bereft of creativity.

This is a test of the newest version. The only difference to the eye are the rounder, larger pockets. Indeed, most of the work for the new version came in what can barely be seen even to a keen-eyed owner, with a "poacher's pocket" hidden between the twin vents at the back. There is a long and illustrious history of such coats (and hunting jackets and the like) having poacher's pockets, and we enjoy trying to conceive the most devious-possible locations for them. On this occasion, I'll admit we bit off more than we could for some time chew, and devising this pocket took nine-tenths of the total development time.

We've also been working on a new mid-layer (the hospital shirt) and revising the sleep shirt and smock in preparation for (gulp) next spring.

In other news, the balmacaan is very much on track for September: we heard from the mill in Donegal today that the yarn has just arrived and so weaving can begin. And the very, very early production of peacoats has continued, with a fresh influx of stock to the website last week.

Paul, quick question on the new field coat: is the belt the only way to cinch the waist, or is there also an internal drawstring like you had on the field jacket? Looks great, by the way! Any hints on colors/fabrics for the final iteration?

 

[sehkelly]

Glad you like the look of it.

We've just received a heavy sail-cloth in dark green, very dark indeed, with a significantly brushed surface, so that's almost sure to be one of the cloths we use for production. (We'll be making the long parka with it, too, most likely, and a new style of trousers).

The other might very well be the same but black, with the same brushed surface and so with a faded and very worn look to it.

The belt is the only cinching option in town here. I suppose it'd work well with a drawstring option! I hadn't thought of that ...

There's always something, isn't there?

 

[sehkelly]

Just this morning we received the first batch of a new tweed made with the wool of Herdwick sheep ...

... which to the uninitiated are a famously tough breed of sheep, which have been native to the Lake District in north-west England since Viking times (answering the question, "What did the Vikings ever do for us?").

The sheep who kindly donated their wool to the project are from the flocks of James Rebanks, whose family have tended flocks on the same land for three generations, and is woven in Scotland by a one-woman weaving operation (okay, I understand some family members are on hand) and all-round force majeure by the name of Sam Goates.

There are two colours of the tweed, which as can be seen here, is outstandingly chunky, and with it we'll be making some trench coats (this will be heavy) and some waistcoats (a four-pocket number, with four pockets at the front, and a fixed collar design).

I'm also heading to Scotland in a couple of weeks to see the last stages of weaving, which will be my first Kelly-related jaunt outside London for quite a few moons. I've spent the past 18 months most days at one factory or another on the outskirts of London, focussing on design and production rather than sourcing projects from further afield, so I'm very excited. And, in the meantime ...

 

[ojaw]

Just this morning we received the first batch of a new tweed made with the wool of Herdwick sheep

That totally floats my boat, as it also literally does the weaver’s.

 

[sehkelly]

Yes!

The weaver has a level of enthusiasm that I find quite personally shaming. Thankfully it is contagious from afar, so I've been able to latch onto that, and when I visit in person next month, I'll be able to sink into the same bath of lanolin-fuelled adrenaline, too.

Between this and the four tweeds being woven in Donegal right now, I feel spoilt.