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November 22, 2005
henry poole's...
[A picture of Henry Poole's, 15 Savile Row.]
I saw this quote in Businessweek and it made me smile:
As Henry Poole's Simon Cundey told me: "The new guys might get the pop stars and the footballers, but their managers come to us... And they're so much less trouble."As I've said before, Henry Poole's is one of the stalwarts of Savile Row. A wonderful company with an inpeccable pedigree. Mr. Cundy beautifully expresses a sentiment that all the tailors I know have been saying for years.
[UPDATE:] And in case you're wondering, it's pronounced "SAH-vill".
Posted by tom at 10:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 21, 2005
thimble tip...
[A small bit of cloth, tied through the sewing thimble.]
When you go into the tailoring trade, one of the hardest things to learn is how to use a thimble properly i.e. with the middle sewing finger properly curved at all times.
They may be small and cheap, but thimbles are extremely useful. They allow you to sew faster, and get through hard cloths without wearing your poor fingers out.
But the proper hold takes a while to get used to, causing utter misery for many a young apprentice.
Here's a tip that was taught to Jonathan Quearney by his father, who was also a tailor. And Jonathan showed it to me.
First, cut a small, thin bit of cloth, a few inches long, and tie it like a piece of string through the thimble, as seen in the first photo above.
Next, place the thimble on your middle finger as you normally would, but wrapping the cloth around your middle knuckle, as in picture Number Two:
Thirdly, grab the needle like you normally would, as seen in the third picture. The tied cloth keeps your thimble finger in the right sewing position. After a while this position starts feeling quite normal, and you'll no longer need the cloth to aid you.
Simple and effective. Your thimble finger will be forever grateful, as will any apprentice you teach this to.
[UPDATE:] Note how we used open-ended tailor's thimbles. The "closed" thimbles (i.e. without the hole in the end) are more dressmaker's thimbles. Tailors only use thimbles pushing in from the side, so we've always had open ends. We don't really use dressmaker's thimbles- for one thing, they make the end of your finger a bit hot.
[FURTHER READING:] "Button Tip". A lovely little trick for sewing on buttons.
Posted by tom at 1:57 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 15, 2005
brussels: quick update:
Just to let you know: When I'm in Brussels on December 2nd, I'll be staying at the Hotel Metropole, where I'll also be seeing my customers.
I look forward to seeing you there. Thank you.
Posted by tom at 10:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 8, 2005
the matching myth...
[The forepart and the back of a freehand cutting pattern, meeting at the shoulder seam. Note how the back part- at the bottom of the photo- is much longer than the forepart.]
This has been the bain of bespoke tailors for generations: the little detail of matching pinstripes [and chalkstripes] through the shoulder seam of a bespoke coat.
Over the years, I've had to constantly wrestle with customers to educate them that if you're tailoring a hand-made coat properly, it's practically impossible to match the stripes through the shoulder seam, if you still want it to fit properly.
And I already know that I'll receive numerous e-mails and comments from Ready-To-Wear and Made-To-Measure customers alike, arguing the very opposite.
But hear me out. First, we need to to think about the part of the body that we're trying to fit- in this case, the shoulder.
If you reach and place your hand on your shoulder as you're reading this, it should require zero medical training to realise that back of your shoulder is convex i.e. it's full, round and muscular. Whereas the front of your shoulder is much flatter, more hollw, and has more evident bone structure, with far less muscle.
So it stands to reason, if you have a shoulder width of say, six and one half inches, the material required to cover the longer curvature of the back is going to be greater than it will be at the front.
So how do we poor tailors cope?
The answer, as you shall see from the picture above, is to cut the back seam from three quarters of an inch, to an inch bigger than the front. Then with great skill from the tailor, he eases the extra fullness of the back into the shoulder seam, as seen in the photo directly below.
[The back shoulder of a suit, still under construction. Note how the cloth is being eased in.]
This is a great art, perhaps the hardest skill to acquire in the trade. This is because if the fullness is not "eased in" perfectly through the seam, it either looks clumsy and puckered, or if not enough fullness (i.e. extra cloth) is put into the seam, this causes the shoulder to feel tight and cause what we call "kinkus", which is an awful stretched appearance around the collar bone, that can also feel very uncomfortable for the poor customer.
This skill cannot be taught- it is only developed in the tailor's fingertips after a large number of years' practice. Any decent Savile Row tailor will have this art, but it will have taken them an aeon to learn it properly.
Then the fullness in the back shoulder will be shrank away by your tailor through constant pressing, so it looks smooth and perfectly shaped, like the "stripe" photo below at the bottom.
This method is very unlike the Ready-To-Wear and Made-To-Measure world, who only use a maximum of about 3/8th of an inch of extra fullness on the back shoulder- about half what Savile Row uses. Often they'll use even less.
The reason for this is, the shoulders of their garments are designed to be machined together in a matter of seconds, which often allows the stripes to match. Then with shoulderpad inserted, and other technical movements, they produce a clean but, in my opinion, an unnatural shoulderline.
In other words, because of more-or-less equal amounts of fabric in non-bespoke being used on the front and back of the seam, the stripes can more easily be matched. However, this happens at great cost to fit, style and comfort.
[Unmatching stripes at the shoulder seam- classic Savile Row bespoke.]
So now you know- when the tailor says he can't match them for you, he's actually not kidding.
Posted by tom at 6:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
paris visits
[UPDATE: My next visit to Paris is tentatively planned for February-March, 2006.]
If you would like to make an appointment, please contact me through my usual channels:
Email: englishcut@gmail.com
Mobile: +44 (0) 7811 388 536
Office: +44 (0) 1228 561 700
Hotel:
Hotel Mansart, near Place Vendome.Thank you.5, rue de Capucines, 75001 Paris
Tel: (33) 01 42 61 50 28
Posted by tom at 2:23 PM | TrackBack
November 3, 2005
brussels february 18th, 2006
UPDATE: I will be visiting Brussels on Saturday, February 18th, 2006.
As always, if you wish to make an appointment, please contact me through my usual channels.
I'll be staying at the Jolly Hotel, where I'll also be seeing my customers.
I look forward to seeing you there. Thank you.
Posted by tom at 10:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 2, 2005
atlanta & australia
[Lucy out and about in Manhattan.]
I'm sorry I've not been writing much lately, but I've been utterly swamped with work since my visit to America. Hopefully I'll find some time by next week.
[In other news:] After consulting with my readers and my customers, I have tentativley decided to add Atlanta to my regular visiting schedule, starting this January/February 2006. I'll make it "official" closer to the date, but in the meantime, if you are in the Atlanta market for bespoke, please drop me a line.
I have also tentatively planned to start regular visits to Sydney, starting in June 2006. Again, if this interests you, please do let me know.
OK, back to work...
Posted by tom at 5:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack