Ever since I started collecting I have always heard when collecting SA tunics the collar tabs should always be hand sewn. The reason I heard is they were detached when laundered. I have always followed that formula. SA tunics are few and far between (good ones) but ever once and a while you see one that looks right but has machine stitching. Well here is proof it was certainly done. I got these pics a couple of years ago. This was from a true barn find. All three tunics hidden together. Not the greatest shape but untouched and machine sewn. Just thought I would share.
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A classic example of learning something new every day. Thanks for posting, Nick.NEC SOLI CEDITComment
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Yes Stone, if there is any area of Third Reich collecting there should be NO ABSOLUTES it is SA and even low rank NSDAP. With the SA you basically has a bunch of rowdy drunks. Can you really believe they followed regulations, i.e. tabs should be piped, should have two shoulder boards, should have collar piping, etc? Especially when you got to the 1938+ period. Any able man still left in a lower rank SA position must have been a real winner.
These guys did what they wanted and 9 out of 10 times I am sure regulations were never even passed down in a timely manor to the lower ranks. I just can’t see some SA rowdy saying “mom you better hand sew my tabs so I can wash it easier”. 
Hell most probably never washed their tunic. If Mom or girl friend had a sewing machine I am sure they said let it rip. More wives tails IMHO. If I were to guess why the majority of them were hand sewn I would say because most lower rank SA men were from poor working class families that did not own a sewing machine.
Another point to be made is the type of tab probably mattered. You have the type with the thick backrum (photo 3) that might have been easier to hand sew since a run of the mill machine might have had a problem going though the tab. Then you have the thinner type like in the first photo (which you see more commonly machine sewn) that a home machine could breeze right though. Like I said, IMHO wives tails.Last edited by NTZ; 09-17-2010, 07:30 PM.Comment
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