For Sale: 1945 Tanker Oversuit

[Ben]

I have a war dated denim tank suit if you need a comparison for colour and cloth. Send a sample and I can post some pictures on here.

Ben

[horsa]

Two items that would be concerns if going to the effort of making decent reproductions are the dye being color fast and potentially having the material pre-washed to set the color and reduce the risk of shrinkage.

Certainly not game stoppers but someone having a known size sample of material that could be photographed and measured prior to being washed a few times for comparison would at least let people know how best to clean the new garments.

I tend to hand wash and hang dry reproductions anyway. But some people might toss them in the regular washer and dryer which could result in major disappointment.

Members of 6th AARR in Texas are still interested the denim and heavier tank suits (even if unlined).

[Jim Burrill]

Good points David. I took a swatch of the sample he sent and used a sharpie to mark off about 6 inches and then washed it in detergent on heavy soil cycle, then dried them on heavy bedding cycle for a lot of heat for an hour.

When measured to the marks, I got no shrinkage. The original green cast washed out and it came out as a brown.

Real denim should be dyed in the thread before weaving.

[Tim Bell]

Ideally would like the best colour match available if spending out - so would be good to see what you come up with first Jim.

How many yards of material on average is required for a tank suit?

NB - May also be prepared to buy a bolt of material if it's a case of too much material and not enough orders... depending on the per yard material cost.

Tim

[RichardT10829]

Like I say Jim I am in for a denim tank suit should you make a run of them

[Jim Burrill]

Tim,
Thanks for the offer. Most "bolts" of fabric tend to be 25 yards long(but can be up to 100 yards), and of varying widths.

A "roll" is really whatever the mill sets up. If we ordered the minimum of 250 yards that Irfan has mentioned, that would be delivered on a tube or roll.

Approximatly 5 yards for suit. In production, you can tuck pieces from garment No2 inside the area of Garment No1, so there is some economy in a production run.

He has mentioned 250 at US$ 6.00/yard, but keeps trying to push that minimum up to 300 or 500 yards.

I wish he had a roll of his own.. I would just order yardage and make my own crewsuit!