Sometimes I hear about things being done that I find a little hard to fathom; pad stitching a chest with a blindstitch machine is one of those things. I had heard rumors of it, but I had never seen it before. Until now. And twice in one week. Don’t get me wrong. I am not against the idea of machining a chest- with the right equipment you can do a great job of it. ARead More
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Just bought some cloth for my next suit. A 13/14 oz charcoal flannel from Minnis. We’ll look at constructing the pagoda shoulder when it arrives.
I just came off a cruise of the Mediterranean. One thing that struck me was the sophistication of Roman art, architecture, science and technology- they had lavishly decorated homes with running water, sewage, self-cleaning latrines, indoor heating systems…. then wandering the medieval village of old Rhodes it seemed as though the dates had been reversed. The simple, almost crude, architecture and sanitation of a thousand years later seemed as though it should have come first,Read More
Perhaps there will be a rebirth of interest in the trade after all! I’d like to announce the launch of two new sites dedicated to the discussion of the craft of tailoring- Jeunes Tailleurs and The Cutter and Tailor The former being geared toward students of the craft and the latter more a meeting place for working cutters and tailors to talk shop. I’d also like to give a shout out for an upcoming bookRead More
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.
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
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
Il parait que j’ai quelques lecteurs Français- et bien, si les choses ne sont pas très claires, dites-le moi et je me tâcherai de faire un peu de traduction. Bonne année!
I’d like to wish everyone happy holidays, and a healthy and prosperous new year! This period is a little anti-climactic for me- after the rush to get everyone’s suits finished for the holidays, coupled with the Christmas shopping and parties and general craziness, we close for the next ten days and I don’t know what to do with myself. I’m not very good at doing nothing and I’ve gone through my last pile ofRead More
I don’t usually get nervous while I’m working but I’m drafting a gentleman’s overcoat this morning and he is flying in for a skeleton fitting later this week so I need to rush a little. Lovely pure cashmere from Cerutti- I’ll need about 4 yards at $500 a yard. That’s $2000. Not something one wants to goof up.