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January 3, 2006
wedges, or, how "bespoke" is bespoke?
[Left arm and right arm patterns. Because the gentleman's arm is permanently bent, I had to create a "wedge" to compensate, instead of just making the right sleeve shorter.]
The idea of "bespoke" is not only is it hand-made, but it's designed to fit just you and only you.
And the mark of a Savile Row tailor is that he pushes that idea to the extreme.
Here's an example. In the photo above, I was drafting the arm patterns for a client. The gentleman, for whatever reason, had an arm that could not open fully; it was permanently bent.
If the suit was off-the-peg, there would only be one solution- take it to an alterations tailor and have him shorten the sleeve.
But with bespoke, that's not how it's done. What I did as a standard procedure was create a wedge, using extra paper stapled together, to create a unique pattern for the gentleman's right arm, different from his left.
[Close-up of the wedge. Three pieces in all, stapled together.]
Wedges are very common on Savile Row, and not just on the arms. It's not just that no two bodies are ever identical, but no individual body is ever 100% symmetrical or perfectly shaped. Therefore the tailor must compensate accordingly.
[Another wedge- this time for the spine at the back of the neck.]
In the third picture above we have another good example of a wedge being used, this time on a different client. This gentleman holds his head further forward than most, so I placed in a wedge to compensate for the extra curvature of his spine. It's just small detail, but small details matter.
And in case you noticed from the photos, I always have a piece of green cloth on my cutting table when I'm drafting a pattern. It always feels nicer to chalk mark the card with the cloth behind it, as opposed to just having the hard, wooden table.
[BACKGROUND READING:] "Thomas' Top Ten". The most popular and informative English Cut articles.
Posted by tom at January 3, 2006 12:13 PM
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