PENTS

The suit that I most recently dissected came with a pair of "pents" (as the Italians refer to them) made by another maker, this one even more well-known than the coat maker. While there was initially some debate about their provenance, Vox tells me that the maker emailed him to confirm that he did, in fact make them (some will recall that Vox obtained the suit second-hand from the original owner). So even though I have confirmation that it is his work, he is often dyspeptic when it comes to discussions of his work. That and the fact that were a number of what I think were after-market alterations which make it difficult to really gauge the level of workmanship so I am going to tread lightly on this one; in this case it seemed that the lining was added after the completion of the garment and while it would be normal to have the original maker do that kind of alteration, it is not a given, and since the workmanship of that particular alteration was so bad and at the same time unattributed, I will have to try to remove the lining first before looking more closely at the rest. They are, however, interesting, so as soon as I figure out a way of examining them without inviting comments about the shape and size of my head I will do so.

In trying to determine whether the lining was original or after-market (his other clients assured me that the maker discourages lining), Derek of the blogs Put This On and Die, Workwear! generously offered to photograph some of the trousers he has had made by a variety of makers. I found them interesting to look and he gave me permission to share them.

Thank you, Derek.

Napoli Su Misura



Ambrosi



Steed

Finishing touches

Making myself something new- Escorial

I recently cut myself a suit out of a length of escorial wool, never having worked with the cloth before. From the Escorial Group's website-



Escorial is a rare and luxurious wool from a small sheep originating from the Spanish Royal flocks of El Escorial, today only to be found in small numbers in Australia and New Zealand.

The Escorial difference is in the heart of the fibre, performing as a naturally coiled spring.

This flexible characteristic creates a fabric that is incomparable in drape and resilience with a distinctive soft handle.

The suppleness and fluidity of the Escorial fabric delivers a garment of comfort and performance.

Escorial is often likened to curly hair. In comparison to straight hair, curly hair traps air between each strand, providing greater bounce and insulation. The special touch of Escorial comes from the airy nature of the fibre.

The Escorial fibre is like a curled spring and when stretched throughout production processes its natural memory is to return to the original curled state. It is this characteristic that makes Escorial garments, lightweight and resilient.

The story is one of sheep which had been kept by the King of Spain, ending up in Tasmania by way of Saxony. The whole story is interesting and can be read here. It is said that there are fewer of these purebred sheep than the extremely rare vicuna and that this accounts in part for the very steep price of woven escorial. I really enjoyed making it up, and it takes very well to the iron, but being a fall weight and finish it will be a few months before I get to actually wear it and see how it performs. So far I love the stuff.

Some random photos- the back still needs work, which is hard to do when fitting yourself. I have some time to get it fixed.