A. Caraceni

It finally came!!

SF member Vaux le Vicompte kindly donated our latest specimen, a DB he had made by A. Caraceni in Milan- you can see images from some of his sartorial adventures at his lovely blog here- legrimod.blogspot.com. (merci, Monsieur le Vicompte!) The following is excerpted from Wikipedia;

Caraceni was founded in Rome in 1913 by the father of Italian tailoring, Domenico Caraceni. At one point in the 1930s, Domenico and his family operated ateliers in Rome, Milan and Paris. The Paris atelier was operated by Domenico's brother, Augusto, who closed his atelier when Mussolini declared war on France.
Today, there are several businesses going by the name "Caraceni" in operation. The original shop operates out of a small location in Rome with a very small workforce. This is run by Tommy and Giulio Caraceni, nephews of Domenico. There are three branches in Milan, all founded by offshoots of the clan, one even claiming to be the "real Caraceni." However, the cognoscenti consider A. Caraceni, currently operated by Mario Caraceni (son of Augusto) to be the best of the Milan branches. These suits are what is known as "bench bespoke," meaning they are made one at a time, by hand, to a pattern specifically drawn for each individual customer.
The various Caraceni "sartorias" have crafted handmade suits for various celebrities over the years, including Tyrone Power, Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Yves Saint Laurent, Gianni Agnelli, Sophia Loren and fashion designer Valentino Garavani. The Caraceni label is also famous for dressing generations of The Kings of Greece and Italy, The Prince of Wales, Prince Rainier of Monaco, Italian Prime MinisterSilvio Berlusconi and Aristotle Onassis.

It is worth noting that Domenico Caraceni regularly obtained King Edward VII’s castoffs (which had been made by Henry Poole) which he dissected and studied, so in a sense he is the spiritual grandfather of this blog. Or parts of it, anyway. He also wrote an essay in 1933, compiling his thoughts on the trade which I have yet to find; if anyone knows of a copy of Orientamenti nuovi nella tecnica e nell'arte del sarto, I would very much appreciate knowing about it.

From the outside are all the hallmarks of a very well-made bespoke suit- entirely respectable hand-made buttonholes, hand pick stitching, hand-sewn besom pockets with mezzaluna tacks, and a very nice curved, hand-made barchetta breast pocket.










Under the lapel is the “cugno Martello” (I don’t know how to call it in English) a type of dart we don’t see much anymore.



The lining has been inserted entirely by hand, and it looks as though the facings may have been applied by hand, though I will have to get it open to know for sure.



Gorges which have been drawn on by hand can usually be spotted from ten meters away, but this one has been done so neatly and expertly that I almost believed it had been done by machine, even on very close inspection it was hard to tell. Easily the best finishing work I have ever seen.



One notable feature is the blunting of the corners; I was taught to do this but it is hardly ever seen anymore. The points of the collar, the pocket , the vents, the sleeve vent, the bottom of the front edge have all been blunted with a few well-placed hand stitches. A subtle distinction of the hand-made suit.



Vent


Sleeve vent



Breast welt




The lapel has been padded rather exuberantly by machine, which is a bit surprising considering the amount of handwork everywhere else. In fact, now that I have it open, I am able to say for sure that the facings were applied by hand, a step which Frank Shattuck tells me takes him a full day to do. One wonders why, then, they would choose to pad the lapels by machine- perhaps they do not see any added value to it. Similarly, the collar has been padded by machine.



It doesn’t show up very well in photos due to the dark colour, but the shoulder seam has been sewn by hand and the sleeves have been set by hand.

Shoulder seam



Armhole



There is a monstrous amount of padding in the shoulder, but this may have been a personal preference or a way of concealing overly sloping or hunched shoulders.



The suit was made in a slightly softer cloth than I have seen coming from some of the English tailors, and it gives the garment a bit of fluidity which is typically Italian. Despite the more challenging cloth, it has been made up very neatly, and expertly- it really is a tremendous garment which I will be continuing to study so there will likely be some updates to this post shortly.

Sleeves on an overcoat

I didn't get a chance to photograph the blazer before shipping it, sorry. To make it up to some of you (well, at least to Kim who has been begging for this for a while) some thoughts on setting sleeves. Not a full tutorial, but just a few pointers, this time a woman's overcoat. (Cheating, she says- those sleeves are easy!) This will appeal mostly to homesewers, so if that's not you, check back soon when I will be opening up a Caraceni that is somewhere in the postal system (I hope it's not lost!)

The first thing I will mention is the importance of stabilizing your armhole- if you distort it by even 1/8" in some areas you can have sleeve trouble and will have to adjust the pattern. The most common way of doing it is to stay the armhole with 1/8" cotton india tape, drawing in slightly in the sharply curved area of the lower part of the armhole. By drawing in, I mean to pull slightly on the tape to shrink that area a bit.


With very full sleeves or difficult cloth I will pre-shir (gather) the sleeve. In the factory we have programmable machines that will shir different amounts around the sleeve cap; at home I will just use a long stitch on the plain machine, run two rows, and draw them, easing the cap into a nice shape. Make sure that the shirring is smooth and that there are no areas that are puckery or lumpy- also, no easing for about 3/4" on either side of the shoulder seam notch.



If you haven't altered the armhole and are working from a commercial pattern, then you are good to go, matching notches- if you have eased the cap you shouldn't have much trouble basting it in; any puckering that shows up should be redistributed. Don't be tempted to fill in a puckery sleeve with a bunch of wadding- it may hide the puckers now, but they will come back. The wadding is just to help the sleeve, not to cover bad sleeve setting. But let's say you HAVE changed the armhole a bit during fittings, or, like this one, it's a new pattern that hasn't been tested yet. Then you may have to adjust a little.

There should generally be more fullness toward the front of the sleeve, near the front of the shoulder bone, than in the back. I have basted my sleeve in, and the back looks good,



But the front is too full- I don't want that much of a rope. Maybe you have puckering because the sleeve is too full or the cloth is difficult.



I take the sleeve out, remove the shirring stitches, and rip the elbow seam. Then I trim the top sleeve a bit (or a lot, in this case) like this



Then I re-sew the elbow seam, redo the shirring, re-baste the sleeve, and hope for the best. Lather, rinse, repeat, if necessary. The result is much better.



Then I will cut some wadding and canvas for the sleeve head, which will look like this-



The two pieces of canvas go on the front, with the smaller piece underneath- note how the hairline reverses on the pieces- very important. At some point I wrote an article on designing sleeve heads so I will try to dig that up rather than going into too much detail now.

EDIT

Here's the post

ot about shoulders in tailored clothing. One important element in defining the look of the shoulder is the sleeve treatment; first, the seam can be put toward the sleeve for a rope, it can be opened for a continental shoulder (one with a defined crown but no rope) or a natural shoulder, or it can be put toward the coat for a neapolitan shoulder.

Second element is the type of wadding used. The traditional wadding was usually a piece of lambswool with a bias-cut cotton folded over it (see photo, item on top of crappy iphone photo). The disadvantages are that this can be a bit lumpy, it is limiting in the style of shoulder you can achieve (it tends to be ropy) and it tends to break down over time. We hear a lot about traditionally-made coats “settling” over time; I, personally, would rather deliver a garment which will keep its shape over time, rather than one that changes. But that’s me.

The wadding shown in the lower part of the photo is more common in RTW garments now because it affords more control to the designer and will keep its shape. It also helps with the dreaded “hanger appeal”, which bespoke tailors don’t have to worry about.




Two types of felt are commonly used- one is a basic needle-punch felt with a foam backing which is quite lofty and good for rope-style shoulders, the other is a needle-punch felt with a scrim (net) backing which is lighter and softer. I, personally, prefer the scrim felt for all applications over the foam but the foam keeps its shape better.

The canvas used is a special weave designed especially for, and only for, sleeve heads. It is a broken twill weave and is denser and has more roll to it than regular canvas. It is easy to tell the difference when you look at the back of the canvas. The canvas helps support the sleeve not only on a hanger, but on the wearer, and prevents disasters happening if the wearer should inadvisedly steam his suit


The pattern for the sleeve head will depend on the type of shoulder you want. It starts with the sleeve pattern; start shaping the sleeve head as shown in figure 1. The degree of curve from this point will determine how much bulk you introduce into the sleeve cap- for a rope shoulder or one with a very defined crown, make a straighter shape, as in figure 2. For a natural shoulder (and by this I mean of the J Press/Southwick/Paul Stuart type) make a much more curved shape (figure 3), which will make a flatter profile with less bulk. From this basic shape you can develop your pieces.




For the felt piece, I don’t run it all the way down the front, though some do- it’s up to you. The first piece of canvas that you make will support the sleeve and define the crown (or not)- for a rope or continental shoulder, start the canvas about 2” down from the shoulder point. Be very careful to observe the HAIRLINE indicated on figure 1. I indicate the hairline and not the grainline because the canvas is streaky in the direction of the hair line and is easy to identify visually (the hairline is the crosswise grain). The large piece must be cut on the bias with the hairline RUNNING DOWN or you will get a dimple on the cap. A second, smaller piece is usual, as shown in green on figure 2. The hairline is also bias but the opposite to the large piece- this will ensure a nice forward roll on the front of the sleeve. A third piece can be cut, as shown in orange, on figure 2. Note the direction of the hairline.



A natural shoulder requires less canvas. The scye seam should be opened as much as 4” to either side of the shoulder point, and there should be no canvas in this area. It’s not as clean on a hanger, but is nice on the wearer. Start the canvas 4” down from the shoulder point as shown in figure 3. There should be no canvas in the top of the sleeve, and a third (sometimes fourth) piece is added to the back, as shown in orange.

A certain amount of experimentation will help you develop a sense of how the shape and size of each piece affects the final contour of the sleeve cap.



Now back to watching my mail box for that Caraceni....

Welsh & Jefferies

Another donation came this week; thank you, Justin.



In previous posts we have looked at the construction methods of some of the best-known makers on Savile Row and elsewhere, this time we look at one of the less well-known though no less highly-respected SR houses, Welsh and Jefferies. I, myself, know little of them other than the fact that they have been in business a little over 100 years, and recently acquired the firm Lesley & Roberts. They have the beginnings of a very attractive website, one which has inspired me to try to make this blog more interesting to look at. I also know that their cutter, Malcolm Plews, is one of the most highly regarded members of the trade and is considered one of the best working cutters by his customers and by his colleagues. We can learn little about Mr. Plews by examining a garment without its owner inside it but we can learn a bit about the firm, and perhaps learn something new about garment construction in general.

The label inside the pocket indicates that the coat was cut in 2006 and bears Mr. Plews' initials; I have obscured the name of the owner.



It was cut in a proper 3 button style, with three working buttonholes on each sleeve; as I unfasten them I notice the same gummy substance as was used on Steed's buttonholes so it is clearly more widespread a technique than I thought. I'm still a little ambivalent about it, though, as it was a little messy-looking on the dinner suit; here you see it as I try to open the lapel buttonhole.



The shoulder has a good, strong rope to it, as one might expect from military tailors. Not to everyone's tastes, but certainly to mine.



There is a dart under the lapel, which we will pause to discuss for a moment.



Without getting into too much detail about the position of the shoulder point, one of the most hotly debated subjects among cutters, a shoulder can be said to be cut "straight" or "crooked", which have nothing to do with the shape of the shoulder but the position of the shoulder point. A shoulder which is cut crooked has a shoulder point which is further away from the center front than a straight shoulder, the crooked shoulder giving a cleaner, leaner chest than a straight one. It also causes the bridle to lengthen, which can sometimes cause gapping along the roll line or for the coat to swing away at the hem. There are two principal methods of dealing with this extra length- a chest dart which crosses the roll line, as is seen here, or a bridle tape which is drawn tight in order to shrink the excess length onto it. Both methods will help the roll line to conform snugly to the chest without "popping"- most (perhaps all) RTW makers draw the bridle tape, but in MTM orders where the customer has a prominent chest and the lapel still gapes, we will then apply a "full chest" alteration which includes the chest dart so he gets a double-dose of the shortening effects.

In the case of this garment, there is a chest dart so we don't necessarily expect to see a bridle tape inside.


Some garments come right apart in my hands; this one was quite a bit more work to get open, which is a good thing- it speaks to how solidly-constructed it was, as might be expected from a military tailor, and is a good indicator that the coat will last a very long time.

The shoulder wadding is a little unusual in that it extends quite a bit down the back of the scye- not unusual to pad the back of the scye, as the Huntsman example we looked at in a previous post, but just that the pad should be shaped this way. I think this will give a smoother shape and more support and is a good idea for those whose strong blades or poor posture make for a potentially messy back. There are more layers of dense wadding than any other SR garment I have looked at and can be dubbed the strongest shoulder to date.




The canvas has been constructed in the same manner as the Hunstman suit, the dart having been closed by machine onto a silesia tape, closing all layers of canvas, haircloth and felt at once. Notice the very large area covered by the felt- this conceals a large piece of haircloth (the firmest type of canvas available) just slightly smaller than the felt itself, which extends almost all the way down to the waist. This is helped by a generous dose of pad stitching (by hand, of course) and the first of the curiosities- a piece of straight-cut fusible in the armscye are.



A closer look at the fusible, which seems a bit like the Kufner B872 article and was applied after the pad stitching was done



I have no idea what purpose this might serve other than to stabilize the scye, prevent stretching, or perhaps prevent unsightly folds developing (just teasing the drapists). I'll have to sit on this one for a while....

Again, a curiosity. The edge tape is fusible, but has been basted on by hand.



I have seen, from time to time, a piece of silesia inserted underneath the canvas in the lapel, meant to give a bit more bulk and support to the roll, since the more layers worked together, the more stable the shape- I will certainly always put a small piece in the gorge area to stabilize. This is the fist time I have seen the silesia placed on TOP of the canvas before being pad stitched (again, by hand).



The collar has also been padded by hand



A view of the extra pieces of canvas in the shoulder. Where I might use an extra piece or two of haircloth for a very structured shoulder, they have used three pieces of wool canvas. Note, however, that two of the pieces have the hairline running straight up and down, which is not something I have seen before.



The shoulder seam, if you can see it, has been sewn by machine, as has the sleeve. There seems to be a lack of consensus on Savile Row about the best way of doing these operations.



The front of the coat has been stabilized with a piece of black fusible in the pocket area, and the pocket jets have been fused with a white fusible. More on this in a moment.



The fabulous rope has been wadded with a commercially-prepared sleeve roll; a layer of needle-punch felt folded over a layer of canvas.





Now, going back a bit to the presence of fusibles in this coat, as I can already hear the gnashing of teeth. The pocket has been stayed with linen holland in the traditional manner, as well as the piece of fusible so rather than replacing one thing with something more expedient they have rather added another level of construction. The front tape may be fusible but no time has been saved in its hand-sewn application so it is clearly not a time- or cost-saving thing. There were a number of other areas stabilized with fusible tapes in addition to the traditional methods of staying. I think that some of the surprising elements show a bit of forward-thinking which is refreshing for the Row (even if I do not understand them), and may be a sort of double-bagging to ensure the longevity of the garment and in no way represent a cheapening or lowering of standards despite our general aversion to all things fusible and modern.

The owner may not be going into the trenches with this coat on, but I am reasonably certain that he could.

EDIT- little message for Libermann, since I can't remember how to type in Russian. Have a good look at that video you posted....

Hand Made Buttonholes, the video

I've been asked about my buttonholes a few times, mainly by people wanting to know how to do them. There's a good set of printed instructions here but I have a few things to add to it.

The type of cloth will dictate how narrow a bite you can take- loose cloth requires a wider bite, tight cloth you can get away with a narrower bite. It makes a difference in the appearance. Consider the buttonholes at the top of the post- they have a raised appearance like the Milanese buttonhole. The buttonholes below appear much flatter.



What is the difference? They were all made with the same size silk twist, the same gimp, using the same stitch type, and by the same person (me). To get the flat buttonhole, I take a fairly wide stitch so that the gimp sits under the leg of the stitch and the knot sits to the side of it. For the raised buttonhole, I take a much narrower stitch and pull straight up when making the knot in order to place the knot directly on top of the gimp. This gives the volume. I filmed the making of the grey sleeve shown above; I'm not sure if anything will be visible in the internet-friendly version, but let's give it a shot.

EDIT- Apparently some browsers only display half the video screen, so by clicking on the title of the video (Hand Made Buttonholes) you can go to the vimeo site where you should be able to see it complete. In the meantime I will try to figure this thing out..... still more technical problems. If you get jagged lines, try clicking through the full res version on Vimeo- I think that works better.

Those who are interested in the materials used can check out this blog post where I discussed the various threads http://tuttofattoamano.blogspot.com/2009/12/hand-made-buttonholes.html

Unfortunately, I don't know where to get the Agreman gimp online. Richard James Weldon stocks it in London, Lafayette Saltiel Drapiers stocks it in Paris and sells the black by the meter rather than by the spool, you could try calling Bergen Tailor Supply, B. Black or Ely Yawitz- they may stock it even if it's not on their websites. Next time I see my Gutermann rep I will ask if he knows of anybody who stocks it, but I doubt he will know.

Hand Made Buttonholes from Jeffery D on Vimeo.

Henry Poole.... Again

If you missed the first Henry Poole dissection, check it out here There were a few curious details which raised several questions about the make which couldn't be answered since there was no customer label; we were therefore not sure if this were a bespoke garment or a sample or something.

To help clear the air a bit, StyleForum member Ohm was kind enough to donate a bespoke Henry Poole coat for dissection and comparison to the other coat. Thank you, Ohm.

It's a two-button in a heavy brown herringbone tweed with suede elbow patches.





The date and customer name have been crossed out on the label so we are not sure of when it was made, but the address stated of 15 Savile Row means it was made after they moved from their Cork Street premises into their current location in 1986.



One of the first things I noticed was that the lining of this garment has been sewn to the facing by machine, unlike the previous Poole coat which was done by hand, and the pockets were made directly on the lining, the same as the A&S suit that was recently dissected.



Some people maintain that the lining should be inserted by hand, for a number of reasons. These two coats show that, at least at some point in their history, both Henry Poole and Anderson & Sheppard, two of Savile Row's most prominent houses, disagreed.

Another interesting detail about this coat is that there is a pre-fab commercial shoulder pad. A thin one, but pre-fab nonetheless.



Again, many maintain that the shoulder pad should be made by hand, and I know of at least one reader who will be brandishing torch and pitchfork when he sees this, but in a tweed of this weight, not even the most experienced tailor would be able to tell the difference between a hand made pad and a pre-fab one without opening the lining.

As a company, Pooles have been known to be the most forward-thinking of all the Row houses and they have always been trying new things, and trying to stay abreast of new technologies. This is only to be commended. While I don't like their choice of haircloth in this garment, one which incorporates a synthetic core wrapped in hair and which is very common in modern, factory-produced garments, I also have the benefit of hindsight on that one. I have also tried it and decided that it wasn't for me, so I can't fault them for trying it, I just hope they have gone back to the real stuff.

The biggest surprise on the last Poole garment was the pad stitching of the lapel and collar- it was done by machine. While it is generally assumed that everybody on the Row still does this by hand, I have it from one of Gieves and Hawkes' clients that they have done this by machine for many years. Since we weren't sure whether the last Poole coat was bespoke or not, we reserved judgement about the padding. But here again, this time in a coat which we know to be bespoke, the lapel has been done by machine



and so has the collar





So it was not just a fluke.


Discuss.

UPDATE- I am led to believe that management at Poole's was perhaps unaware that the padding was being done by machine and has since insisted that it be done by hand. Good news.