Made by Hand, Machine, or 3D?
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.
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!
So here is some of the progress so far. As promised, I pulled the pad stitching from half the collar and redid that half by hand; the stand is pretty heavily padded, the fall is more lightly padded and the ends were curled under as I worked to keep the corners tight to the chest. After breaking the collar, there is no noticeable difference in shaping or shape retention, though that may change, particularly afterRead More
As I was preparing the armholes a contextual distinction came up; there are two sides of the tailoring coin- one is the independent tailor shop, the other the factory. Why is this important? In the context of a tailor shop, which may have only a lockstitch (plain) machine and maybe a serger and blind-stitch machine, there are a great deal of operations which must be done by hand to be done correctly. In a factoryRead More
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 showed how to spot the different ways of hemming a lining and explained why it would be better to do by hand or by the special felling machine, since allowances inside are felled in place. But what does that really mean? Have you ever got your trousers back from the cleaner and there was a phantom crease near the new crease in your trouser? A result of wear, humidity and the cleaning process, theRead More
