Ultimate Six Frock Coat: the easy fabrics - colour matching round three

I reported recently that I had received a second round of lab dyed wools for my colour matching.
I’m slowly getting there, but wanted to have another little go at the Green Felt (Fabric 3) and the Peach Felt (Fabric 4).

Fabrics 3 and 4

The previous round of tests moved the project forward, but I felt were weren’t there just yet (see left).

Well today I got the latest revised swatches for approval.

I think the Peach Felt (Fabric 4) looks better, and although the Green Felt (Fabric 3) looks stronger in colour, I don’t think it is quite right yet.

That said, I think I now have a collection of swatches worth putting forward for direct comparison to the original coat to see how we stand.
I know that some of them are not right yet, but I could benefit from seeing them side-by-side to know which direction to go with the colour.

Check back soon to see how thing turned out.

Ultimate Six Frock Coat - fuzzy felts and wools

I’ve had a bit of a lucky break with some of the fabrics I need to match on the coat, which going into 2011, is certainly welcome news!

Fabrics 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 11

Now, I had already found a supplier for a number of the key felt fabrics.

You can read about these under
The Easy Fabrics

Off the roll they could supply an excellent match for the Purple Felt (fabric 2); a fair match for the Red Felt (fabric 5); but by the time I got down to the Green Felt (fabric 3) it wasn’t so good (see above).

What I didn’t show at the time was a lack of match for the Yellow Lapel (fabric 7) and the complete abscence of the bright Pink Felt (fabric 11). The yellows they had in their range were either just a little too bright or way too dark (see left).

The company I had lined up was, however, able to dye-to-match if given a colour to use.
Great – but they wanted a minimum of 50 metres in  a single order to do it! Ouch!
For the Pink Felt that made it totally impractical, as I only need a single piece around 6 inches wide by 24 inches high!!!!!!

I have since done some searching around and have found a fabric mill in England who make and supply just the right type of felts.