Recent content by Doctor Damage

The red (Life Guards) and blue (Blues & Royals) greatcoats are unwearable for anything other than riding a horse since they're unwieldly in terms of fit, and weigh a couple of tons. Amazing to own, if you can get one in good condition (some have been slashed, sadly), and nice to pull out a...

Here's a useful guide to sewing on buttons with "backer" buttons to make them more secure. The host uses what appears to a be a genuine USN peacoat as the test subject. She says she sews the threads in an X pattern; for what it's worth, on my Burberry and similar outerwear the buttons are sewn...

I'm glad you didn't get a slashed coat. I understand why they do it, but it's frustrating. Regarding the buttons, on my coat they're Guards buttons and are removable being are held on by pins on the inside which you simply unhook and the buttons pop off. I had for a short while one of the...

I've got one of those and yeah it's a beastie. Mine is a bit snug now around my midsection, for some unknown reason. I got lucky and got one that was slashed by a supply sergeant (which most have been) but only under one of the shoulder straps so it doesn't affect the appearance or wearability...

Running an older computer here with telephone high-speed internet. Have had no problems with the site more or less since it was bad several months back (was it last fall?). Ongoing problems for some of you might be more to do with your local service provider or your browser or something more local?

Former friend of mine use to wash his (extremely expensive) camelhair overcoat like that and it worked out well, but yeah, drying is the challenge. I wonder if it's a good idea for those doing this at home to wait until the warm, dry weather arrives (for those of us in the northern half of the...

It looks like the Marine Shop is offering the USMC boat cloak again, via special order: https://marineshop.net/product/boat-cloak-male-special-order/

Nurses of course often wore short capes and I have some photos of good examples which I'll post but here's some old photos. If anyone has more photos along these lines, I'd like to see them.

Here's a modern re-enactor wearing a Roman paenula, the standard hooded cloak worn by Roman soldiers, and many civilians too. It was big to fit over everything and had a few loop-and-toggles on the front to partially close it.

There's a more general thread on capes/cloaks at the link below which is probably a good place to post photos of your collection. This thread I think we should keep more focused on US military capes etc. I'm looking forward to your photos. general thread on Capes/Cloaks