My son is an aspiring military leader and asked if he could be General Patton this year.

I had to find fabric that was similar in color and material to authentic WW2 jackets. After that I had to modify a very old boy’s suit coat pattern I had from the 70’s. I added the shoulder straps (for the star pins and button) and ordered authentic U.S. army buttons to make it look more real. I had to entirely invent the pockets based on photos and modifying the pocket pattern that came with the suit coat pattern.

I also had to entirely invent my own pattern for the riding breeches as I could not find anyplace online that sold anything for boys.

I also handmade the khaki necktie.

I did not make the shirt but it had to be made a little shorter for him to wear.

I found black boots at Goodwill for $9 and spray painted them brown and added embellishments using brown craft foam, eyelets, shoelaces, and D-rings. I used super glue but also had to do some hand-sewing.

We bought a basic army helmet at a Halloween store and I painted on the Army “A” symbol myself. Then we glossed it really good and added more star pins. (This took some hammering!)

The medal rack on his chest was made using special paint paper and I used markers, paint, and sharpie. I looked up real ones online to copy. The back is lined with plastic (from a plastic food container; to make it stiffer) and I affixed a safety pin to the back.

The belt is just an old leather belt he had that was too small so I added an extension to it as well as a new buckle made of :
a. a generic buckle we found at Hobby Lobby that we spray painted gold
b. a U.S. Army ‘leather decoration’ (also found at Hobby Lobby and also spray painted gold)
c. plastic kid’s holsters we bought online
d. plastic kid’s revolvers that we painted black with white “pearl” grips just like Patton’s.

He loves it.

Launch Gallery