DYE N1 Deck Jacket

[Oakbark]

Does anyone know if a n1 deck jacket may be dyed?
I was wondering if the 2 lining versions this jacket is made of: (alpaca or pile) would require a different wash/dye treatment.

 

[ton312]

Does anyone know if a n1 deck jacket may be dyed?
I was wondering if the 2 lining versions this jacket is made of: (alpaca or pile) would require a different wash/dye treatment.

The exterior will certainly take dye. Unpredictable with the interior

 

[Zoo]

Also depends on if the materials are all natural or a natural/synthetic blend.

Jacquard iDye offers formulas for synthetic or natural, so in combination they can work pretty well when a garment isn't as advertised.
https://www.dharmatrading.com/dyes/...-6L8TkzSlBsdGXU7gV2-hN4XhQbPgKGBoC_QcQAvD_BwE

 

[Oakbark]

Also depends on if the materials are all natural or a natural/synthetic blend.

Jacquard iDye offers formulas for synthetic or natural, so in combination they can work pretty well when a garment isn't as advertised.
https://www.dharmatrading.com/dyes/...-6L8TkzSlBsdGXU7gV2-hN4XhQbPgKGBoC_QcQAvD_BwE

Many thanks

 

[CatsCan]

I know this thread is a bit older now. But I am exactly doing this right now. I found one of the first batches of N-1s made by Pike Brothers. It is from the time when they were still experimenting with getting things right (what they still haven't achieved yet in my opinion ). It has the wonderful quality of Jungle Cloth they are well known for to use in their jackets until now. But like most of their N1s the cut is off (looks more off than it actually is by the pure measurements). The zipper is the lesser quality Talon repro (doing better nowadays). But worst is the colour. I know that many modern reproducers choose this (to my eyes, I am of lighter skin with blond hair) ugly yellowish "khaki".
As I only paid 45 Euro for the jacket (!, the seller was a lady who sold clothes from her ex without any interest in what they were) I thought I will do my experiments with this specimen to see, if I can correct Pike Brothers interpretation.
My aim is olive drab #3 (although sources have it, that #2 was required for windproof and weather resistant cloth, everything heavier than 5oz came out #3 in the real world as it seems). To achieve this look I found that cooling and toning down only a slight step might do the trick and so took a middle grey fabric dye and tested it on the zipper pull strap. It came out perfect. So, the step from khaki to drab #3 is just the right amount of black (to be safe I chose gray, so I can't overdo it). For the actual jacket I took 2 Packs (each for 600g) of grey, added a small amount of night blue. It is still in the wasching machine drum
Next step will be adding an original NOS 1942 Talon zipper. Then comes the sewing machine to reduce the bulk. I have plenty of original buttons, so I will give it those as a final touch along with the proper stencil.

By the way, I have test washed the jacket before at 40°C, 60 min, to see, what the liner does. It had no adverse effect. The liner is from their old experimental phase. It says 70% wool, 30% acrylic. I guess the acrylic is the heavyly constructed backing of the liner. Maybe its the fur, I don't know for sure (on todays N1s they say 100%wool). As I have plenty of good lining material on hand from my Bronson massaker (some of you guys will remember) I don't care too much if I had to patch repair it or even exchange it altogether.

But for this thread I will post pictures of the colour change, before and after so to speak. But I already can say, yes, it takes the dye, but you have to know, which colour to add for the wanted effect. Just taking olive dye and dye a khaki jacket will not make it olive, but something else in an uncalculatable way. Just as dying an olive fabric with blue dye will not make it blue, but rather darker olive or mud. But dying khaki with black, grey or blue will take you a good step towards different shades of olive. Mixing charcoal grey and little drop of blue as a dye and dye khaki fabric will take you close to oliv drab.

By the way, I have four N1 Jackets, two of them very nice, so no problem if I mess this up.

Just for those who love theory: Olive Drab #3 is 41,96% Red (107), 55,69% Green (142) and 13,73% Blue (35) if you only mix these three basic colour (RGB method). But this only has the wanted effect on white pure natural fiber fabrics like white cotton. If the cotton fabric is citrus yellow, you don't need yellow anymore, thus Red, Green and Blue can be used to adjust. If the fabric is deep cadmium yellow, indian yellow or ocker, you need no yellow either and less red but more blue and green. This is how it works - in theory Let's see tomorrow, if I messed my project up......

So long

Cats

Test Strap (from original yellow-khaki Pike Jungle Cloth), now olive drab #3. In background of the first image the undyed Khaki jacket, which is much lighter and more yellowish than visible on the pic.

 

[CatsCan]

First results
I was so cruel to put it through some delicate dry tumbler cycles. Colour is great! Compared with another olive drab jacket there is only a slight difference, the Pike Bros has a slightly warmer tone. I am very happy how my U.S.N. stencil faded.
You can only discriminate them by the different weaves of the fabric (Pike is the Jungle Cloth, the other is a Flat Bedford.

I am surprised that the fur had become more alpaca-like in colour compared to the brown before, much more military like. I unfortunely couldn't get the colour of the Jacket as ist was before on camera, but those of you who know Pike Brothers khaki Deck Jacket know what is is like. I put an image of a faded original at the end to show how it was looking, because this is like if Pike had cloned it...
(edit: meanwhile I posted the photos from the seller of this jacket in one of the later posts)

Pike Brothers First Batch N-1 Deck Jacket overdyed Olive Drab #3 (still moist, will get a bit ligher when totally dry)

My "U.S.N." stencil turned out really well, I think.

Comparison with olive drab #3 jacket (Pike N-1 is left)

Fur has more of an alpaca look now. It is browner than it appears in the photo. Have to brush it up a bit, though.

I think we can count this as a real life prove that N-1s can successfully ovedyed.

Cheers for reading!

Cats

Faded original like Pike Brothers (Yellowish "Khaki")

 

[Edward]

@CatsCan - really interesting to see this, thanks for going to the effort to do the photos.

It's true a lot of these repros do go for a lighter colour than would have originally been issued. I suspect this comes down to much of the market being guys who have seen originals as they are now and want one that replicates that look, rather than how these jackets came off the production line. I like both looks myself, but It would be kinda nice to do my own fading with wear....

I'm actually really keen on an N1 evetually, and I'm genuinely torn between the khaki and the blue.... Given I one day hope to buy one of the Pike B15s, I suppose the blue makes more sense..... got lots to clear out first, though!

 

[CatsCan]

I'm actually really keen on an N1 evetually, and I'm genuinely torn between the khaki and the blue

Thanks mate! I have a olive-khaki'ish one (but more olive than khaki), two in drab #3 (at least now they are two) and one in blue with a self made faded and only lightly visible U.S. NAVY Stencil on the back along with a "68" as "hull number" for my Year of birth. I like the drab ones the most, this colour fits better to my teint and hair colour. And I like the blue one, although it is a narrow fit, but lookes good over a t-shirt. Bright khaki looks good on people with dark hair and darker complexion. I think you should go for the blue, way better to combine (fits to anybody and simply everything), less military (good these days), looks more elegant and still is an N-1 Deck Jacket!
I find the Pike Brothers difficult, cut wise and colour wise. Same applies for everything they do in olive, their OG-107 for example..

 

[Peacoat]

It came out great, Cats. Thanks for the write up and the photos.

 

[CatsCan]

It came out great, Cats. Thanks for the write up and the photos.

Thanks alot, mate, but I wasn't sure until today in daylight and until it had full dried. I will attach todays pictures (first two are from how it was before).
I thought I could stencil the back, now that I have ruined a Pike Brothers N-1. I also try to replicate an original Contract label (a happy coincidence helped me with that) and sew the Pike Brothers Contract Label inside of the right pocket.

Here the photos from today:

Before with that golden brown khaki:

After overdying with gray:

With enhanced colour to bring up some of the warmth of the real look (difficult to photograph, still not the same as for the eye):

 

[CatsCan]

A vintage original with back stencil:

My stencil (different number design):

The contract label of a vintage original (Pritzker & Sons, Boston, MA, N-1 Winter Jacket, June-Oct. 1944):

My new label (pin rolled to see where the stitching will be). The new size is 42 after the jacket had shrunk one size in the 40° wash dying cycle and a second round of washing to wash the excess dye out:

Not exact like an original, but close, I hope....

Cheers for watching! It really is a fun project. Jacket and dye had cost me 57,- €... Would surely bring in good money I think, but I will use it when playing in the woods and out and about with my kids group until it has a real distressed look

Cats

 

[Will Zach]

Nice job, when I need advice on overdying I will hit you up... I could not find any "color calculators" online that would help predict the final color based on the baseline color and the dye mix.

 

[CatsCan]

Nice job, when I need advice on overdying I will hit you up... I could not find any "color calculators" online that would help predict the final color based on the baseline color and the dye mix.

Thanks Will! I also tried to find such a calculator without sucess. Perhaps no one want's to risk complaints about receipts that did not work out like intended. Neither do I . So please don't hit me up
I guess that's the main problem with overdying. I took the risk. If I had paid what this jacked had cost the previous owner when new, I would never even have thought about it. But with 45,- € spent (and more than one N-1 to my service..) it was worth a shot. Was feeling like 40 years younger! We dyed lots of second hand clothes, never went as intended. Had to wear purple jackets we had hoped to be blue, grey jeans we had hoped to become black and dark mud Army pants we had hoped to dye black... Moms hated it, because THEY had to clean up the mess we left behind (were not allowed to use the washing machine).

In this particular case the worst thing that could happen using the grey dye was that the "khaki" turned darker, duller, less fist-in-the-face like. I am glad, the colour came out like I hoped for in the most optimistic scenario.

 

[Will Zach]

^^
Yep, overdying is a crapshoot. I recently overdyed my wife's wool sweater which was originally beige. The target color was dark roast espresso bean. LOL. Easy, right? I overdosed the dye, and the thing came out PITCH BLACK. Luckily I managed not to shrink the wool and she loves her new black sweater. Or so she says, not wanting to break my heart, lol.

 

[CatsCan]

I bet, it will be espresso brown after two of the next washes. But if she still will not break your heart if it turns out children's size is another risk, though, lol.