galacticprobe
Active member
[Split from another topic - Moderator]
Glad I could help a little, 14th. And yeah, even the US dollar amount is a bit too steep for me. But I've got some references of a real Paul Smith Holes Jumper that could help someone make one of their own, if they've got the time, and more importantly, the patience to work on it.
First, heat out to your closest Target or the like and look for one of their Merino cotton black crew-neck jumpers. (Go for the cotton rather than the Merino wool; both cost about the same, and both feel about the same, but the cotton is less prone to shrinkage.) In the US, those jumpers go for about $20 or so, which isn't bad at all. (I can definitely afford that.) Also buy one about one size larger that you take because you'll want the sleeves to be just a tad long. (More on that in a few.)
Next, stock up on some black thread because you're gonna need it!
Now to get to work. Cut away the front 1/4th of the jumper collar; cut away the inside half of the sleeve cuffs so your palms of your hands are clear, but the backs of your hands are still covered by the remainder of the cuffs. Now for the tricky part. If you know someone with a shotgun loaded with 00 ("Double-aught") buckshot, pin the jumper to a clothes line and have him take a shot at it. Failing that, get yourself a pair of scissors and start the cutting of holes. (Personally, I'd go the scissors route.)
Cut small holes randomly all over the jumper, back and sleeves includes. The holes can by different sizes and there really doesn't look like there's any pattern to the holes at all. Then, once you've got everything cut - or in between if you notice things starting to unravel, take that black thread and start doing a buttonhole stitch around the cut areas (collar, sleeve cuffs, and what holes you've already cut) to keep everything from unravelling. Either buttonhole as you go, or do it all at once if things hold together well enough for you to finish.
In the end, you should have something that looks like this:

Notice the curved cut on the cuffs. The holes are all different sizes, all over the place, and you've still got that band around the bottom, so no mods needed there. Also notice the buttonhole-type stitching around everything that's been cut. (That fracking unravelling!)

Not as sharp of an image (sorry about that), but you can see the holes along the sleeves. (I don't have any images of the back, but when reading the description of the jumper on the Magnoli site, it does say the back has holes in it as well. And no; these are not Magnoli images, so no worries about that. These are from someone that was lucky enough to pick one of these up - an actual Paul Smith Holes Jumper - at a yard/garage/boot sale for I think the price quoted was around £5! Why can't I ever get that lucky?!)

Another view of the front. Pull down hard enough on that waistband and you can make the holes look larger so the white vest/undershirt shows through better: great for photo ops.

Another front view angle, showing a few more of those holes in the sleeves.

And here's a nice sharp look at the holes, the way the cuffs have been cut, and the buttonhole stitch that's keeping things from unravelling. It also shows the different sizes and shapes of the holes. (I wonder if when Paul Smith originally turned these out if they were identical, or if they each had their own distinctive pattern and size of holes... and how he managed it. 00 buckshot? Probably not.)
Of course, if you don't have the patience for all that cutting and sewing the buttonhole stitch, even with a sewing machine, and you don't mind the smell of burning hair (
), you could always use a soldering iron to poke the holes into this jumper. The hot iron "should" melt enough of the material to sort of cauterize the holes as it makes them; that would also stop things from unravelling; it would also really work great like that if you could find a jumper made from acrylic yarn because that would melt enough to stop the unravelling. It would make the holes areas a bit rough, but that's what the vest/undershirt is for. As for the collar and cuffs, I would try to either whip stitch, or buttonhole stitch those (much easier on the exposed skin).
Anyway, I hope these images can help anyone that's thinking of making their own "Holes" jumper from one of the really inexpensive crew-neck black jumpers that you can find at places like Target, Walmart, etc.
Dino.
Glad I could help a little, 14th. And yeah, even the US dollar amount is a bit too steep for me. But I've got some references of a real Paul Smith Holes Jumper that could help someone make one of their own, if they've got the time, and more importantly, the patience to work on it.
First, heat out to your closest Target or the like and look for one of their Merino cotton black crew-neck jumpers. (Go for the cotton rather than the Merino wool; both cost about the same, and both feel about the same, but the cotton is less prone to shrinkage.) In the US, those jumpers go for about $20 or so, which isn't bad at all. (I can definitely afford that.) Also buy one about one size larger that you take because you'll want the sleeves to be just a tad long. (More on that in a few.)
Next, stock up on some black thread because you're gonna need it!

Now to get to work. Cut away the front 1/4th of the jumper collar; cut away the inside half of the sleeve cuffs so your palms of your hands are clear, but the backs of your hands are still covered by the remainder of the cuffs. Now for the tricky part. If you know someone with a shotgun loaded with 00 ("Double-aught") buckshot, pin the jumper to a clothes line and have him take a shot at it. Failing that, get yourself a pair of scissors and start the cutting of holes. (Personally, I'd go the scissors route.)
Cut small holes randomly all over the jumper, back and sleeves includes. The holes can by different sizes and there really doesn't look like there's any pattern to the holes at all. Then, once you've got everything cut - or in between if you notice things starting to unravel, take that black thread and start doing a buttonhole stitch around the cut areas (collar, sleeve cuffs, and what holes you've already cut) to keep everything from unravelling. Either buttonhole as you go, or do it all at once if things hold together well enough for you to finish.
In the end, you should have something that looks like this:

Notice the curved cut on the cuffs. The holes are all different sizes, all over the place, and you've still got that band around the bottom, so no mods needed there. Also notice the buttonhole-type stitching around everything that's been cut. (That fracking unravelling!)

Not as sharp of an image (sorry about that), but you can see the holes along the sleeves. (I don't have any images of the back, but when reading the description of the jumper on the Magnoli site, it does say the back has holes in it as well. And no; these are not Magnoli images, so no worries about that. These are from someone that was lucky enough to pick one of these up - an actual Paul Smith Holes Jumper - at a yard/garage/boot sale for I think the price quoted was around £5! Why can't I ever get that lucky?!)

Another view of the front. Pull down hard enough on that waistband and you can make the holes look larger so the white vest/undershirt shows through better: great for photo ops.

Another front view angle, showing a few more of those holes in the sleeves.

And here's a nice sharp look at the holes, the way the cuffs have been cut, and the buttonhole stitch that's keeping things from unravelling. It also shows the different sizes and shapes of the holes. (I wonder if when Paul Smith originally turned these out if they were identical, or if they each had their own distinctive pattern and size of holes... and how he managed it. 00 buckshot? Probably not.)
Of course, if you don't have the patience for all that cutting and sewing the buttonhole stitch, even with a sewing machine, and you don't mind the smell of burning hair (

Anyway, I hope these images can help anyone that's thinking of making their own "Holes" jumper from one of the really inexpensive crew-neck black jumpers that you can find at places like Target, Walmart, etc.
Dino.