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Military 'woolly pully' sweaters

Harp

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,249
Location
Chicago, IL US
... and there are good ways of storing wool to make it moth proof. I hope the WP's you have stashed away are safe and that you will revisit them in the autumn.

I've a moth chew wooley shrapnel shark bite sent to former Marine tailor for wound dress. Spread sulfa powder over cut, bandaged field dressing, with a tad morphine needle before med evac run out. Sweater survived. Previously bedded down barracks locker bereft camphor moth balls; however, open any tactical storage suggestions. :cool:
 

Edward

Bartender
Messages
26,489
Location
London, UK
I have to be honest and say that I find natural fibres more comfortable and there are good ways of storing wool to make it moth proof. I hope the WP's you have stashed away are safe and that you will revisit them in the autumn.

I've gone that way too myself. That said, I by and large tend to stick to repros of pre-1960 clothing designs (or, per budget, what could pass for same), which just don't look or hang right in many fabrics available now. I once had a HeyDay pair of repro Oxford Bags which looked nice, but when worn the poly-rayon type fabric was too light and the came off more like Culottes than anything. I have to admit, I do like a cotton knit, though, as a bit more moth-proof than wool. The WP as we see it now I suppose is a little bit of an outlier in my wardrobe, being largely finalised into the early 60s, but it works. I'm a fan of the V neck style over a tattersal shirt and a knit tie for a relaxed weekend look. I need to pick up a couple of new ones at some point. I do favour a bottle green when not in the Old Country, and a burgundy-wine colour. The RAF grey-blue is a nice option too.

The WPs I had as a kid back in the early 80s (one blue, one brown) were likely 70s made, passed on from a cousin four years older than me who'd outgrown them. Crew necks, certainly, worn casually with jeans at weekends. I remember wanting a green one, but being told I'd get shot in it. (This would have been the tail end of the hairiest period of our local issues, and days when some of the kids sent over on Operation Banner had been too quick on the trigger in some circumstances; my parents were very keen for us not to be mistaken for any form of military, 'para' or otherwise, at a quick glance while squinting into the sun. I don't think I got it then, privileged as we were living in a backwater that wasn't much troubled (pun very much intended), but it stuck with me later on.

Funnily enough, I noticed last year watching Say Nothing (Disney / Channel 4) that there are some very good shots of a drawstring-neck commando style one being worn by Rory Kinnear, as an officer in Operation Banner who goes in on a 'nice cop' interrogation approach with an arrestee they consider potential tout. Good shot of the lapels particularly, and how they fasten with velcro when he removes his rank tabs before gonig into the interrogation room. This would have been set around 1970. A few years before I was born, though uniforms portrayed were very much consistent with what I remember squaddies wearing at checkpoints back in the eighties. The RUC also wore them in their deep green - what I'd call a 'bottle green', though "black green" was the generic they were known by. Nice quality back then, I'm told - the newer PSNI uniforms, when they were redesigned for a different era, apparently compromised on quality a lot.
 

Turnip

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,023
Location
Europe
Just washed and dried my sheep, sweater and cardigan. Had way enough sun this year, in the evening and at night it’s already cooled down enough sitting in the garden or taking a walk.

Swe.jpg


Card.jpg
 

Harp

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,249
Location
Chicago, IL US
Looks as though my olive drab regulation commando has deserted post.
Unaccounted for and a barracks search came up nada, zip, zero this morning.

to paraphrase General MacArthur, ''old sweaters never die, they just fade away.'' :(
 

Ticklishchap

One Too Many
Messages
1,797
Location
London
Looks as though my olive drab regulation commando has deserted post.
Unaccounted for and a barracks search came up nada, zip, zero this morning.

to paraphrase General MacArthur, ''old sweaters never die, they just fade away.'' :(
I think that you also have a black commando sweater/Woolly Pully.
 

Ticklishchap

One Too Many
Messages
1,797
Location
London
Just washed and dried my sheep, sweater and cardigan. Had way enough sun this year, in the evening and at night it’s already cooled down enough sitting in the garden or taking a walk.

Swe.jpg


Card.jpg
That is very nice. Summer was especially evil this year; it's the only one of the four seasons I dislike and this year it was a rehearsal for Hell.

I'm glad it's Woolly Pully weather again.
 

Harp

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,249
Location
Chicago, IL US
I think that you also have a black commando sweater/Woolly Pully.

Also gone. Probable victim several professional fast relocate with a downtown Chicago
condominium apartment building conversion. A speedy pack up and move tends keepsake dictate,
and, leaves quick forfeiture (peripatetic professional odyssey) habitual wreckage strewn wake.
Anyway, now retired rat race, I've begun giving further thought towards cardigan purchase. ;)
 

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