I found this when going through some old stuff. An 18 pound iron of the type that used to sit in coals to get hot. One of the first jobs an apprentice would have would be carrying this thing back and forth, and swapping out the press cloth which would keep the dirty iron from soiling the garment. Thank god for electric irons.
Year: 2009
This drape experiment has got me thinking. I feel very Meh about this coat but the general population seems to like it. Why? I like pagoda shoulders. I like a good rope on a sleeve. I like a polished-marble clean chest. I like pocket jets that match the coat. Why? Because they are the most difficult things to execute properly. Where I see virtue, normal people see, well, I don’t know what they see, butRead More
Coat’s done. Meh. For all the fuss they make over the comfort of drape, I expected the clouds to part, rays of sunshine to burst forth and choirs of angels to sing when I put this on. It’s soft, it’s light, it’s comfortable, but is it really all that much more comfortable than the starch and armor that I normally wear? No. In part, because of the sleeve. People have this funny notion about sleevesRead More
I have since found some things out about A&S and drape. I didn’t think that the full canvas would have been cut on the bias- Sator showed me a oage from Whife in which he indicates that it was, in fact, done on occasion, but I get the impression he did not favor it. Edwin DeBoise, of Steed (who is former A&S cutter) pointed out in a LL post that A&S only cut the chestRead More
I’m getting ahead of myself (again). The windowpane coat is finished but I’m going to wear it and abuse it for a while before making any further observations on it. On to my next experiment. A whole lot of fuss is made over the drape cut, some claiming it to be the ultimate in bespoke silhouettes and others deriding it as just bad cutting. Many people aren’t very clear about just what drape is, especiallyRead More
Someone asked me how to learn to sew and I told him to start by learning to work with a thimble. This will protect your finger as you work with multiple layers which can sometimes be stiff. First, get an open-ended thimble in the correct size. The average size is 10 or 11. Thread a piece of ribbon through the thimble, then place the thimble on your middle finger. Bend the finger toward your palmRead More
Anyone interested in the pro method of ironing a shirt should check out this tutorial at http://lavraiechemisesurmesure.blogspot.com/ While on the subject of shirts, does anyone know what David Page Coffin is up to these days?
I am reposting an interesting article I found on LL. It echoes some of my sentiments about drafting systems, and the propensity for bespoke cutters to be slightly “loose” in their cutting, leaving a lot to be adjusted during fittings and by the tailor. Though RTW and MTM is often maligned on the fora, the patterns and cutting systems have to be perfected to a great degree since there is very little basting and adjustingRead More
We’ve been talking a lot about shaping and about the back, and recently voxsartoria posted some photos of some garments he’s having made with a one piece back; there have been a few questions about it so let’s look at the mechanics of the back of the jacket. Sorry about the crappy Iphone photos. EDIT- dumb me is assuming everyone has seen vox’s suits since he’s posted them on every imaginable forum except the russianRead More
So I managed to draft a sleeve that matches all the way down the back as well as the front (here it is, just basted in to the armhole) The under sleeve is pretty hollow and I’m not thrilled with the fit so I am going to keep trying other things so long as I have some cloth left. But at least I know it’s possible.