The Breeches Material

[Jodo]

What are the pants made out of?

(I could of went through a whole bunch of detail...Bit this was simple, easy to remember. )

I know I've heard they're more like dress pants material...But that's a pretty general statement.

[Mojo Turbo]

well dress pants would be polyester....

[Captain McCool]

Or, in theory, wool.

Actually, breeches of the period would likely have been made of a lightweight-to-mediumweight wool. If you don't use a flannel they might not even be too terribly hot, since wool is a natural fiber and breaths well.

Otherwise, I know a lot of folks have made theirs out of linen. This can probably work if it's the right weight and weave of linen. His breeches don't seem very "lineny" in texture though, to my eye.

[Mojo Turbo]

thanks to Sparrowed for finding this amazing ref pic

http://jacksparrowcostuming.wikispaces.com/file/view/jacksparrowbreechestruecolor.jpg

[Mojo Turbo]

I think the thing I had the most issue with was the breeches. More specifically the color, because I wasn't a person who was trying to get the exact buttons, but at least a close color.

I know some of you have had GREAT dealings with blackbear clothing, and others... not so much. But as far as I know, nobody has come out and said "these are screen accurate" breeches." You can buy any pair, and you still need to dye em and swap out the buttons.

What do we know? How can we help some of the dealers so perhaps someone (AHEM!) could start making and selling us all some pants!

Wiki link: http://jacksparrowcostuming.wikispaces.com/Breeches

Case in point: My wiki has no pics of the buttons or buckles because all the pics out there are privately owned.

[Mojo Turbo]

TRUE COLOR

[callmemilo]

Good question Mojo. I'm certainly in need of a good pair of these beauties. I dare not order from Black Bear after hearing about their terrible lack of communication.

[BroadSword]

I would put a disclaimer on the wiki about Black Bear. I have 3 emails in to them about my order and have received nothing to date. Since I don't really have any kind of drop dead date (other than Halloween), I'm not stressing it, but wow...they have zero customer service.

I may end up having the wife make a set.

[Button It]

The breeches change from film to film like all the other costume bits. I've not seen a CotBP pair up close, so a few of those details are more educated guesses than anything else.

I think the colour is fairly consistent between CotBP and DMC/AWE but they're definitely darker and less aged for OST.

The buttons I know match the waistcoat ones in each film, but in a smaller size. In CotBP they're the same basic silversmith design but a slightly different button to the ones used in DMC/AWE (which are the ones I currently sell). In OST they're the smaller version of the brass coloured buttons used on the OST waistcoat. The buckle on the older breeches is a little bit more ornate than the OST buckle which is just a simple brass buckle (although proving incredibly difficult for me to find).

I had my pair tailor made to my own specs by SF Tailoring

[Epic Jack]

So, I recently retired an older pair of breeches in favor of a newer, canvas colored pair that would allow for an easier dye and more comfortable wear. My issue is...I cannot for the life of me figure out just what color Jack's breeches are. I'm talking specifically At World's End...I've seen some images wear they look clearly gray...and others where it is clearly tan/brown. I'm thinking of the image with Jack, Barbossa, and Elizabeth walking on the beach, in that, his breeches look clearly brown. I've tried the tan/pearl grey mixture and the breeches came out VERY grey but not tan...I'm thinking of either adding some tan to them or washing out the color entirely and using a brown/tan dye mix...any suggestions or some clarification on this?

[Mojo Turbo]

About breaches: http://jacksparrowcostuming.wikispaces.com/Breeches

Me thinks they are this color:



But as you can see here:

http://jacksparrowcostuming.wikispaces.com/file/view/breeches_master_ref_pic_Jack.jpg

They always look different. The advise prop and costume builders will always give you is: best to pick one picture and just duplicate that. The more pics you have, the more lighting you have, film verses digital, stunt double vs actor, promotion shots vs screen shots - the list is endless

The last two in this shot:

http://jacksparrowcostuming.wikispaces.com/file/view/breeches_master_ref_pic_Jack.jpg

Are outside sunlight, so if you match that - you're probably in good hands.

And I say they are gray, and I will wrastle anyone who says otherwise

[Captain McCool]

I also think they're gray. However, what I did with mine worked marvelously (until the dye all washed out. I hate RIT).

Basically I took a pair of dark gray breeches, washed them in super-ultra-mega-diluted bleach to lighten them up a bit, and from there I added some pearl gray RIT dye mixed with a bit of chocolote brown RIT dye. Very light on the brown, mind you. I had to take them out and dry them a couple times, then put them in just the brown once or twice, just to get them exactly how I wanted them. But in the end, they came out looking like this:

The great thing is, in some lighting they looked really really gray, and in other lighting they looked kinda' brownish. They never looked TOTALLY brown, but they had brown undertones. I kind of feel like this is what they did with Jack's (or something very like it). I believe the breeches are themselves a gray color, but they added brown to them somehow to make them look sort of murky and dirty.

That's my two pence, anyhow.

[Epic Jack]

Excellent, I might try darkening my grey breeches a bit then and maybe throwing in a bit of the chocolate brown I picked up in there...2 more questions: any suggestions on darkening the grey? Should I just throw them in the grey dye bath a leave them in there for a good amount of time? Also, what buttons are on the breeches? I checked out Simon Newton whom I got my frock coat buttons from and the breeches buttons he has just look like the waistcoat buttons but of the smaller 7/8" size (at least from the images he has on his site).

[Captain McCool]

Apparently the breeches buttons are in fact the same as the waistcoat buttons, just very slightly smaller. Although frankly I never even noticed them in the movies. I always just assumed they were plain pewter buttons of some kind. Still, you can't beat Simon's buttons for screen-accuracy, and they're also priced really well, as far as buttons go. I definitely recommend him overy anyone/anywhere else for buttons.

And as for the dye, I'd say just experiment a bit. That's what I did. But remember, don't put too much brown in there. You want a very diluted undertone more than a "brown-brown."

[Epic Jack]

Definitely, thanks. I'll see what I can do...as far as Simon goes, he is currently out of stock of the breeches buttons, fortunately, they aren't particularly rare buttons and can be found at many online button sources.

[Epic Jack]

Just wish I had the extra money to get some nicer belts XD

[Button It]

Just a quick mention on the buttons.

Both for OST and the previous films the breeches buttons are the same as the waistcoat buttons but just slightly smaller. The only ones I'm not 100% sure on are for CotBP as I've not seen them first hand. But for the other films I can catagorically say that the breeches buttons are (in button size speak) 24L [~24/40"] compared to the waistcoat 28L [~28/40"]. I don't have any of the smaller size left for the old silversmith ones - the 7/8" buttons that are readily available are way too big for the waistcoat yet alone the breeches, but I'd say that the waistcoat buttons would be passable if you needed them for the breeches, or alternatively I have a few sets of the brass OST design, but again they're limited in number.

As for colour, the breeches in OST are a bit darker, and more brown. DMC/AWE were essentially grey with a touch of brown in there - probably anywhere between 2-4 parts grey to 1 part brown mix. Probably nearer a 50/50 mix for OST but just more concentrated on both

[Captain McCool]

Yep, Simon's got the right of it!

And like he said, you could probably just go with the waistcoat buttons. Honestly I doubt anyone will notice the very slight difference in size. It's true though, the only ones sold at most retailers are way, way too big.

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