Shaping the underarm

I was discussing techniques with a tailor by email and was having trouble describing something so I thought "blog post".

We typically find two types of tailored sleeve in men's suiting- English tailors often cut what is known as a 50-50 sleeve, whose under sleeve is roughly the same width as the top sleeve. More common today is a sleeve with what is known as a "false forearm" because the forearm seam is offset from the from of the sleeve by around an inch in order to conceal it. The offsetting of this seam can cause a kink near the elbow if the sleeve is not shaped properly. The under sleeve is cut roughly 1/4" longer than the top sleeve along the forearm seam; some tailors work this fullness in and shrink it out when pressing the forearm seam. I have a different take on this.

Notice the concave shape of the forearm seam when the sleeve is flat.



Now when I turn the seam back to replicate the offset of the seam in the finished sleeve, notice that the front of the sleeve is straight and the seam is now convex, rather than concave- this is what can cause the break in the sleeve.



To counter this, instead of shrinking out the fullness on the under sleeve, I stretch the top sleeve using a steam iron or by moistening the cloth to within 1 1/2" of the cut edge, pulling on the cloth as I hold the sleeve as shown (this can also be done after the seam is sewn, when opening the seam).


Notice how the edge of the sleeve ripples because of the stretching. The top sleeve seam is now 1/4" longer than it was, and even with the under sleeve seam.



And now when I fold back the front of the sleeve, the fold is now nicely curved and the seam is now the proper, concave shape.

The Anatomy of a Suit, Plus Gimp

The Anatomy of a Suit is an exhibit now showing at the London Museum and apparently dissects suits, some historical, to show the innards.  While they sadly did not appear to proof their material, it would still be an interesting thing to see.  Running until June 2014

Also, a reader points out a new source for Agreman gimp, my gimp of choice for hand made buttonholes. This can be bought at WAWAK sewing supplies.

Thanks to David and Nula for pointing these out.

Henry Poole- an update

A few years ago I dissected a pair of Henry Poole coats and was somewhat surprised to find that the lapels and collars had been padded by machine.



Rory Duffy, who trained in coat making at Poole's, recently visited with his former master and had some news. Owner and President Angus Cundey has since insisted that all of their garments be hand-padded in order to maintain the traditions of Savile Row tailoring.

While I have sometimes questioned the intrinsic value of doing certain operations by hand versus by machine (though not the lapels), I am completely in agreement with the idea that there is history, tradition and craftsmanship that is worth preserving, particularly at the Row's oldest, and perhaps most famous, house.

The Making of a Coat, continued

More videos to follow my previous post. Thanks to Andrew Yamato and Rory Duffy

The Making of a Coat #7 - Constructing the Chest from Andrew Yamato on Vimeo.

The Making of a Coat #8 - Padding the Chest from Andrew Yamato on Vimeo.

The Making of a Coat #9 - Making the Collar from Andrew Yamato on Vimeo.

The Making of a Coat #10 - Darting the Canvas from Andrew Yamato on Vimeo.

The Making of a Coat #11 - Shaping the Back & Foreparts from Andrew Yamato on Vimeo.

The Making of a Coat #12- Canvassing the Foreparts from Andrew Yamato on Vimeo.

The Making of a Coat- Rory Duffy

Reposting some tailoring porn that I enjoyed, in case readers missed it elsewhere. They're well-filmed and fun to watch.

Andrew Yamato has been producing a series of videos highlighting the work of Rory Duffy, a Henry-Poole trained cutter and winner of the Golden Shears award. I'll post only the videos here, but if you would like some insight into the filmmaker's point of view, you can find it at A Suitable Wardbrobe. Sadly, one of sure to be one of the most anticipated episodes is missing- namely, the one on measuring and making the pattern- but I am sure it will be released soon.

The Making of a Coat #1 - Introduction from Andrew Yamato on Vimeo.

The Making of a Coat #3 - Striking the Pattern from Andrew Yamato on Vimeo.

The Making of a Coat #4 - Cutting the Canvas and Lining from Andrew Yamato on Vimeo.

The Making of a Coat #5 - Crookening & Markstitching from Andrew Yamato on Vimeo.

The Making of a Coat #6 - Making Patch Pockets from Andrew Yamato on Vimeo.

Then when you're done, go and check out Rory's blog. I've been slow lately and I'm glad to see someone picking up the slack.

Couture Sewing: The Couture Cardigan Jacket

Claire Shaeffer is one of the most recognized authors on couture sewing so when she contacted me about her latest book, I was excited to see it. Entitled Couture Sewing: The Couture Cardigan Jacket, for legal reasons she probably can't refer to it as a Chanel jacket, but I can. It arrived this week and while I am not finished reading it, a comment left on another post prompted me to get this out there right away.

Marysia, if you have not yet started your project, and if you do not yet have this book, stop. Buy it. It is a treasure.

Claire has a likely unparalleled collection of Chanel couture garments and has studied many more in museums and private collections and this book shares some of the secrets of construction that made the iconic Chanel jacket unique. Some of the tips I have never seen anywhere else in print, and having studied haute couture in college myself, there were things in there that were new even to me. What I like most about Claire's books is that they are never just instructional manuals on sewing , but that she covers the history and backstory of the techniques and the couturiers behind the spectacular garments which serve as her inspiration. Anybody interested in Chanel's designs, legacy, and in some cases revolutionary sewing techniques will love this book.

As a bonus, at the end of the book is a DVD which I have yet to watch but I am sure it will be fantastic, knowing what her previous projects have been like. There are techniques discussed in the book which really need to be seen in action to be fully understood, and they are covered in the DVD. I will update this post once I have had a chance to watch it.

Fit challenge

Three weeks ago I was contacted by a retailer. They had a photoshoot planned for this week with one of their vendors, but that vendor had abruptly and unexpectedly pulled out of their stores leaving them with nobody to dress the model. Three weeks is tough when we haven't yet fit the person, but is doable. Then they dropped a bomb on me. Two, actually.

Retailer-He's a basketball player- he's 6"11".

Me-Yikes. So how soon can I see him to measure him up?

Retailer- Actually, you can't. He's in Senegal until the day before the shoot. But our vendor already made a suit for him, maybe they can get you the specs.

In a highly unusual move, the vendor, who is our competitor, helped me out with specs.

"But wait", retailer said. "We made tons of alterations to that suit so you had better speak with the stylist to see if he remembers what we did". Which he did, sort of. He told me what he thought they had done, but wasn't entirely sure. What they wanted was very close-fitting, and as you get closer to the body, you have that much less room for error- it's easier to fit a mitten than a glove.

So I took the initial specs, spoke with the stylist, then looked at a bunch of photos of the basketball player online, and made a guess. A very risky guess. What happens if I get there for the shoot and what we made doesn't fit? I was sweating bullets.

The day of the shoot, we had our first fitting, which was being filmed by the retailer (no pressure!) There were, as expected, issues to be fixed. And since their tailors were all very busy, I ended up on a sewing machine doing the alterations (not my favorite thing in the world to do). I didn't have time to fix everything I wanted to, but I think we saved the shoot.

Live from New York....

The job sometimes comes with fun little perks.

I spent the weekend in New York, fitting the commentators for NBC's football coverage. They now share studio space with Saturday Night Live so when we were done we got to tour the set, which was really cool. Next week I will be going back, to fit the guys from the EPL and NHL, and also to outfit the Olympics commentators.

Luxury Hangers by Butler Luxury

I once wrote a rant about the importance of hangers to fine tailored clothing (you can read it here)

Like any investment piece, it worth spending a little extra to take care of it, whether it's a cover for your iPad or a case for your phone or a cover for your boat or classic car. Clothing is no different. Most hangers do not provide adequate support to the shoulder and collar and cause actually distort the garment while it is hanging. Good quality hangers will prevent this distortion.

Butler Luxury contacted me to see if I would be interested in seeing their line of luxury hangers. Naturally, I was; they sent me a set of four pieces.

The shirt hanger



The sport coat hanger



The trouser hanger



And, most importantly, the suit hanger



The suit and sportcoat hangers are made extra-wide at the ends, which provide the necessary support for the shoulder of the garment.



An important feature is also the wide, flocked trouser bar. The flocked finish prevents the trouser from slipping off, and the extra-wide bar prevents impressions being left on the trouser where they fold over the bar; other hangers which have a locking bar or a strap to prevent slipping will all leave marks on the trouser. I definitely like these features. I also love that the hangers come in four different sizes- it's just as bad to have a large hanger poking out of the sleeves of a coat as it is to have then shoulders of a coat hang off the end of a hanger that is too narrow. The hanger sizes are suggested for approximate coat size, which is a help for people who wouldn't know what size is most appropriate to order.

From a technical standpoint, these hangers have it all. But they are also very handsome, and the finish is really very nice. Available in two colors, it occurred to me that the Walnut Espresso finish matches the wood in my walk-in and that matching hangers for everything including my shirts, while perhaps not strictly necessary, would look very nice.

In any case, if you are the type who invests in quality clothing, I highly recommend investing in proper garment storage, which includes these lovely luxury suit hangers.

True Fit- Working Toward a Better Way of Shopping Online

The statistics regarding return rates of online clothing purchases are pretty staggering but the reality of the importance of online shopping is such that they need to be addressed. The biggest obstacle is fit; when shopping in a store, you can try a garment on, even in several different sizes, and judge the fit before you buy. Shopping online is a crap-shoot; even if you know your usual size in garments, the garment you are looking at is not guaranteed to fit the way you like it. We had several presentations on the advances in scanning technology which can accurately scan a person's body and provide enough information to suggest what could be, technically speaking, a correct fit, but this does not account for one important variable, which is personal preference. What may be way too tight to one person could be too loose to the next, and scanning technology alone can not take these considerations into account.

True Fit is an attempt to address this issue. In alliance with a given retailer, they will partner with all the retailer's vendors; I am currently working on this project with them at Hart Schaffner Marx. I provide all the measurement data of the models which the retailer will be carrying and True Fit inputs this information into their database, which will be cross-referenced to every other garment in that category. When shopping on the retailer's web site, the shopper will be asked to input some basic body measurements, but also is asked to provide information about their favorite garment already hanging in their closet, and this is where the element of personal preference can be, to some degree, addressed.

Let's say you have a suit by brand X, in style Y, size Z. You enter this information in the dialog box on the retailer's website; it doesn't have to be a garment carried by that retailer, as long as that garment's specs have been provided by its maker at some point. True Fit will cross-reference all the data it has on all the other garments carried by that retailer and then make a suggestion of cut and size that most resemble what you have indicated that you already have and like. In initial trials it has slashed return rates enormously, which is good for customers and retailers alike, and is a very interesting development for the industry. I'll be keeping you informed on how this progresses.

IACDE Boston 2013 Continued

190 people from around the world attended the four day IACDE event at the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston. Simultaneous translation was a must.



We had factory tours of the Jospeh Abboud plant (shown) and the brand-new Southwick/ Brooks Brothers plant.



The president of the IACDE, Joachim Hensch of Hugo Boss opened a series of excellent presentations and discussions on e-retailing and digitizing fit.





Jessica Murphy, co-founder of True Fit Corporation, explained how their analysis tools could help online shoppers find correct sizing more easily.







Thierry Moncoutié of Lectra S.A. talked about 3D visualization in garment creation. We are duly chastised with the statistic that 62% of consumers are unhappy with the fit of their clothes.





Alvanon presented some of their ideas about e-retailing and mass customization of fit.



A panel discussion, moderated by Karen Alberg Grossman, Editor in Chief of MR magazine on the impact of e-retailing on brick-and-mortar retail stores. Contributing were Joseph Abboud himself, Roxy Starr, EVP of Design Development at Fast Fit 360, Jared Blank, e-commerce at Tommy Hilfiger and Raj Sareen, founder and CEO of Styku.








We started an outreach/internship program last year to sponsor and encourage young talent, with participation from U.S.A., Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan. This young "task force" made some interesting recommendations during their presentation to the group, so we challenged them to implement some of these changes and gave them a surprise budget of $10,000 to work with.







Networking is always an important aspect of these gatherings.

Benjamin Cohen of S. Cohen speaks with Kyle Vucko of Indochino



Anthony Sapienza with Joseph Abboud and Dragan Udovicic of Men's Wearhouse



Roxy Starr with Adriano di Quinzio of Brioni.






And our formal event is always fun. We cruised Boston harbor with dinner and a live band for dancing.

Anthony Sapienza, Me, Dr. Heino Freudenberg of Freudenberg Group, and Alan Abramowicz, co-president of Samuelsohn.



Members of the Japanese chapter in beautiful traditional dress.



The Indochino boys, Heikal Gani and Kykle Vucko with me, Enza Sturino, owner of Intermforme Interlinings and Roxy Starr.



I am thinking of putting an informal gathering together for people in Chicago who wight be interested in the group, which would include a possible way of gaining membership in the organization. If you are interested and in the Chicago are let me know. Of course, if you are located anywhere else in the world and are interested, I can certainly point you to a local chapter.


These photos were all shot by David Fox, photographer.

IACDE BOSTON

Just got back from my Boston trip. It was a really great time and I'll be posting in more detail soon but I thought I'd put up a few pics for now.

Lodovico Zandegu from Boglioli, Karen Alberg-Grossman from MR Magazine and me.
And before anyone yells at me for wearing a notch lapel tuxedo, my old one doesn't fit anymore so I had to take one out of stock and we didn't have any peaks in my size.



Karen moderating a panel discussion including my former Chief Creative Officer, Joseph Abboud.



McKinsey Associates discussing the effect the internet has been having on the clothing business.



The founders of Indochino, Kyle Vucko and Heikal Gani with Anthony Sapienza, CEO of Joseph Abboud Apparel, and Enza Sturino from Interforme Interlinings.

Measuring Tailored Garments

The explosion of e-commerce sites has created a dilemma of how to address fit in a virtual environment. The focus of next week's convention of the International Association of Clothing Designers and Executives will be on this subject and I am sure I will have lots to report when I get back. One thing I will bring to readers now is that the methods of measuring garments used by sites like e-bay are driven by sportswear so the terminology used and the actual methods are different than those commonly used in the tailored clothing industry, so if you are only familiar with e-bay or Styleforum conventions, you may end up confused when talking to a tailor or a manufacturer.

Below is a guide to the terms and methods typically used by tailored clothing manufacturers- some may vary slightly, like the exact level of the knee, but these are pretty much standards.

Shoulder pads

Shoulder padding is a fairly controversial subject, but the consensus in the US seems to be "less is more". There is also a misconception that all RTW makes use way too much padding; this is occasionally true- this is a pad from a well-known and loved brand




I prefer something softer and lighter. This is the thickest of the pads that I use in my RTW clothing.



You don't have to go all the way to Naples to get a soft shoulder.

Buttonhole threads

One of the most frequent questions I get is "where can I find the threads you use for buttonholes?". My go-to gimp is Agreman and the silk twist I usually use is R753, both products by Gutermann. It has sometimes been challenging to find it at retail, especially in the U.S., but there is now a new source over here. I haven't used them- the National Sales Manager at Gutermann is a friend and she let me know about them.

Bay Tailor Supply is now stocking these items. If someone orders from them, do let me know how the service is.

Hand Made Buttonholes from Jeffery D on Vimeo.

IACDE World Convention, Boston

The International Association of Clothing Designers and Executives will hold its annual world convention in Boston on May 9 to May 12 at the Intercontinental Hotel. We will be examining e-retailing and pattern design; there will be two factory tours- one of the JA Apparel factory which produces the Joseph Abboud tailored clothing, as well as the Southwick factory which produces for Brooks Brothers. Also featured will be presentations and workshops by representatives from Hugo Boss, McKinsey & Co., Nyopoly, TrueFit, Human Solutions, MR Magazine, Alvanon, Freudenberg, Lectra, and Chargeurs. More information, including registration forms, can be found here.