Vintage M65 Field Jacket Type-1st

This time it's the US Army M65 Field Jacket.
The M65 jacket often refers to a jacket used by the US military, and the 65 is so named because it was adopted in 1965.
With military items, numbers often indicate the year they were adopted, which makes it easy to tell when the item is from.
The predecessors of the M65 include the M43 and M51, and I would like to destroy and explore them again if I get the chance.

The M65 jacket has appeared in many movies, so you can enjoy it that way, but the most famous one is probably "Taxi Driver" starring Robert De Niro.

Now, like Levi's denim jackets, the M65 jacket is divided into detailed age groups called 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.
Some of the biggest changes in appearance include the absence of epaulettes and different zipper materials.

Are there really no other changes that are invisible or hard to see apart from these obvious changes?

With these questions in mind, I decided to explore the M65 as my subject.
Yes, as always, it's very nerdy.
I am writing this article after dismantling all three types, but let's go through each one in chronological order.
So, this time we will dig into the early type called the 1st type!

M65 Field Jacket 1st

M65 Field Jacket 1st Epaulet

This image is of the shoulder area.
As I mentioned earlier, the early model M65JK does not have epaulettes.
From a design standpoint, I prefer the jacket without epaulettes, but there was a bar tack above the shoulder line. This bar tack penetrates all the way to the lining, and serves the purpose of preventing the lining and outer fabric from separating, so that the shoulder position does not shift.
I said not to slip out of place, but it ended up being fixed in a slightly out of place position. I don't mind the feeling that they don't care about the small details.
By the way, the buttons on the epaulettes are attached all the way through to the lining.

M65 Field Jacket 1st Cuff

There are gussets on the cuffs, but the way in which these gussets are attached and sewn is key. The structure itself will change in the final 3rd type we saw this time. I think the reason for the change in structure is the difficulty of sewing, and although there are some difficulties even at this early stage, it is not impossible to sew. However, sewing becomes more difficult in the 2nd type.

The reason lies in "how to sew".
The 1st type is cut off and sewn together.

However, for the second stitch, it becomes a wrap stitch.
I think that the wrap stitch is a result of pursuing efficiency because it requires fewer stitches. However, it also makes sewing more difficult.
This cuff design is interesting as it gives rise to a lot of thought.

M65 Field Jacket 1st ZIP top

The end of the zipper flows into the collar.
I was surprised because I thought so. First of all, if you look closely, you can see that there are stitches on the body side, so pouring it in doesn't seem like the best way to do it.
So, this folding and bar-tacking seems to be a logical choice. Incidentally, the zipper end on the other side (left) is designed to be attached to the facing side. And the facing side has stitching at the collar height.

Therefore, this side is designed for pouring in.

When this becomes the 3rd type, the stitching changes to the collar on both the front and back.

M65 Field Jacket 1st ZIP bottom

This is the bottom end of the zipper.
Instead of the stitches being parallel all the way to the bottom, the stitches are curved so that they end in the same place.
What we can see from this is that the sewing machine does not use two needles, but sews in two separate steps. Furthermore, I think that the ends of the stitching are in the same position so that they can be tacked. Personally, I imagine that if the stitching ends at an angle to make it easier to open and close the zipper, it would be a very romantic design.

M65 Field Jacket 1st Hidden Hood

The M65JK has a hood hidden inside the collar.
This in itself isn't a big deal, but if you look at the seam where the hood and collar join together you'll see that stretch fabric is used there.
This fabric is not used anywhere else.
In other words, we had to prepare the fabric specifically for this seam.
That just shows how much this area needed to grow.
Was it necessary for the hood to have some sort of mechanism for holding down the head?
If anyone knows anything please let me know.

M65 Field Jacket 1st Pocket Bag Cloth

A patch of cloth is attached for the waist string to pass through.
The edge of the bag cloth was then poured into it.
Both ends of the bag fabric are finished with a lock stitch, and the bottom is made of woven fabric, but it still has stitching, which I think is interesting.
In some of the garments, the top edge of the bag fabric was sticking out from the part for the drawstring that was attached to the waist, and as a pattern maker, I wondered if it was a grading mistake.

M65 Field Jacket 1st Back lining collar facing

Inside rear lining.
There are buttons for the hood on the lining, so it is likely that this part was added to reinforce those buttons.
However, if the only purpose was to reinforce the buttons, it would have been fine to use only a portion of the fabric, like the reinforcing fabric described below. Thinking about it like that, I wonder if it also had the role of preventing the tuck at the top end of the center back from opening up in a pathetic way. It doesn't seem to have much effect, though.

M65 Field Jacket 1st Reinforcement Fabric

Reinforcing cloth is attached to necessary areas such as eyelets and buttons using the same fabric as the body. For some reason, there are two pieces. It is not uncommon for there to be only one or two pieces.

M65 Field Jacket 1st Interlining

This image is the back of the front endpaper.
It contains fabric as a core that is not glued.
This in itself is not unusual in vintage items, but I noticed that the lead did not reach all the way to the edge.
The shoulders are rolled so maybe they just didn't reach the mark by accident, or maybe they intentionally cut back to create a padding to reduce the thickness even a little. I wonder which it is.