a lucky tailor?
Published: Wednesday, September 20th 2006
My apologies to the various people who have emailed me for further information regarding my tailoring visits.
There is a reason for my slow response......................
The picture below shows the remains of my Saab 95.
I was involved in a road traffic accident on Saturday the 16th September. I would like to thank the driver of the tractor that was driving on the wrong side of the road, around a bend!
Main thing no-one hurt, only the car and thats only plastic and metal. This one I shall have to put down to experience.
If you are looking for a solid, safe car.........I walked out of this with a couple of cracked ribs.
Many thanks to my friend Darren Barker, he drove me to retrieve my personal effects from the car. Thats him in the background laughing!!!
Any-one want to buy a car, I know one thats going cheap!.
UPDATE:- I am in the process of replacing my car. I have done the deal....... you guessed it, a new Saab!.
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cloth bunches
Published: Tuesday, September 19th 2006
I have just received three new bunches from one of my cloth merchants, they are lovely quality. Made in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, the home of world excellence for fabric producing.
I try my best to only use fabrics made and sold by cloth suppliers in Yorkshire, they are fantastic quality and can last you a lifetime. I use the well known branded cloths also, but feel they are becoming pushed a little too hard, as 'the' cloths to use, similar to the designer clothing bought off the peg.
One is a plain-weave cloth, which will let air move through the garment helping to keep the wearer cool and have the added benefit of helping to shed creases.
One of the other bunches is a very nice super 130s, 9oz weight, with a real nice feel, not soft or hard, but perfect for airconditioned offices in the city.
The final bunch is a Merino 10/11oz wool classic. Perfect for everyday wear. Classy, traditional stripes and good solids.
These are the 2006 fabrics, I have made suits from the previous 2005 bunches and have every confidence the new cloths will perform as good as the last.
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a short break from tailoring
Published: Sunday, September 17th 2006
I try my best to take my youngest son Thomas walking 2 to 3 times a year.
I am definitely no rambler, but find the time spent with my son very calming, no noise, traffic or general hustle bustle of everyday life. I have to get fitter though, the hills seem to get steeper every year we return!.
This is Thomas standing at the waterfall at the mouth of Langsett reservoir. We normaly go to the Peak District as it is only 40 minutes from home and you really can feel like the only people on the planet at the top of the hills in the Dark Peak area.
We stayed at a nice Bed and Breakfast but a different one from usual haunt, it was the Dog and Partridge a place with real character and history dating back to medieval times.
The Dog and Partridge of years gone by had been used as a temporary morgue for people that died on the moors! (as spotted by Sean in the brochure).
Thanks Sean for telling me that, I did not sleep as good on the second night as I had on the first!. Tom's favourite hostelry and our usual haunt is the famous Yorkshire Bridge at Bamford, next to Ladybower reservoir, fabulous home cooking, lovely place.
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youngest apprentice in uk?
Published: Sunday, September 17th 2006
Is this the youngest apprentice in the UK?
These are pictures of my youngest son Master Thomas Merrion he is 11 years old.
Thomas is a very keen worker and always very eager to do any jobs you ask him.
Thomas also likes to earn his own wages so I asked Tom if he would like me to show him how to 'work' a hand buttonhole which is an art.
So after a quick 'monkey see monkey do' tuition session with Thomas here he is having a go at one of his own hand buttonholes.
Well done Tom keep it up and I may have you on the payroll in no time!
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drape of cloth
Published: Friday, September 15th 2006
I have no problem in making up clients own fabric lengths as long as the cloth is good enough for the job.
There are a few tips I can give though to help you make sure you get the right cloth for the intended purpose you want it for.
Here is the first tip If you want to purchase your own fabric to be made up by your tailor, make sure you drape the fabric over your shoulder and arm ( as in the photograph ).
This will help you greatly by giving you an idea of the body, or the substance of the cloth and a rough idea how it will look when made up.
If you fold a portion of the cloth back like the lapel on a jacket, you will get an idea of how it will look on you finished and be able to see if the colour is a good choice for your complexion.
By doing this you will also be feeling the fabric in the place it will be worn and get a better idea if the cloth is the correct weight for what you want.
While you have the cloth over your shoulder run your hands over the length and move your arms, you will be able to get an idea of the 'hand' ( the softness of the cloth ) of the fabric.
I would hang the cloth so it is a little lower on the body, compared to my photograph.
The cloth in this picture is for a second pair of ladies trousers to go with a suit I made previously for her, the cloth is a nice super 120s with cashmere.
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How Honest is Your Tailor?
Published: Monday, August 21st 2006
I have chosen this title for the simple reason that there are too many so-called tailors up and down the UK who have never worn a thimble in their lives held a pair of shears and send all their work to factories at home and abroad, yet claim they make their suits themselves and call their tailoring bespoke!
If you are not told from the outset that your suit will be factory made or outsourced to another party I think this is totally dishonest.
My intention is to give you the customer as much information as possible to ensure that this does not happen to you. Why should you pay for a Mercedes and only get a Reliant Robin?
A good eye can spot bespoke a mile off. Here are some pointers:
- Price, it is IMPOSSIBLE to make a GENUINE UK MADE Bespoke garment for less than £1,500. The main cost of a Bespoke suit is TIME/LABOUR and lots of it. How can you buy decent cloth, superb trimmings and all the other ancillary items needed for Bespoke garments coupled with business running costs on top of 70+ hours of labour for less than £1,500 and for those tailors that use out-workers, then pay your coat and trouser makers a FAIR wage? Simple, YOU CAN'T.
- Beware of the tailors who want to sell you 'special offer' cloth lengths they just happen to have in their shop. These lengths are usually poor quality fent, roll ends or short lengths, more often then not have cloth flaws running through them. They are usually bought by the tailor through the back door for £10 or less!
- Out breast pocket, ( the top welt pocket ) on a factory jacket will have zigzag stitching down the sides and no hand stitching on the top or ¼" in from the sides
- The flower hole on the lapel of the ready to wear suit will be about ½" long.
- The so-called hand stitched edges will be will be very pronounced and deep - they are done on an AMF machine in seconds, true hand-edges are on the edge and very lightly done (not in your face), the idea is to see it from certain angles only.
- Same on the outside jacket pocket flaps - lift them up to see the consistent machine stitching on the underside.
- The collar is a good place to look, especially the melton under-collar, the piece under the cloth collar, is it zigzag stitched
- Look inside at the lining, especially where the armhole is, it should be hand felled/hand stitched (other places to check include the lining shoulder, back neck lining ( see image below which shows a machine finished lining ) and along the bottom of the jacket lining) - if it's machined into the jacket then it's an engineered garment, or in other words factory or machine made. You can easily distinguish hand stitching on a lining as the seams tend to be "laid" over each other instead of running together - give it a gentle tug and you will easily see the stitching.
- The inner pockets on factory garments are normally only in the lining section, on bespoke they are about 1" into the cloth facing. Inner pockets suffer a lot of stress, especially at the pocket mouth, setting them forward makes them last longer. Some manufacturers DO set the pockets forward, so ensure you check for the other signs.
- On a factory-made jacket, the jettings on the outside pockets ( the small strips of cloth where the outside flaps are ) are always ribbed with a ridge, on bespoke jackets they are flat, totally smooth, and have been pressed open with no ridge as this removes bulk from the appearance of the jacket.
- At the fitting stage both sleeves should be in the jacket, if only one sleeve is fitted into the jacket, ( because price and speed is obviously an issue ) this is also an indication of a factory made suit, or certainly out-workers are involved.
- Don't be fooled by patterns in a workroom, they mean nothing. Ask to see your pattern - your unique pattern will have construction lines on it. It will have your name on it. It will have any alterations applied to it. A stock pattern is not unique to you!
- If your garment is at the try-on stage, make sure that you have a full canvas all the way down the front. It should be totally free and loose from the fabric, the two move completely independently of each other - this is what makes a soft jacket ( see first two images below ). It should not be fused or have anything stuck on the cloth. Fusing is either black or white in colour, and normally has a ½ canvas chest piece with white felt chest felt also fused on it (see third image below).
- My top tip? Check the under-collar on a finished jacket - zigzag stitching here is a dead giveaway! (see image below)
I hope you are rushing to your wardrobe to check your suits. Were they sold as bespoke? Are they bespoke or factory made-to-measure?
Remember: A good, honest tailor has nothing to hide from you. We love to show clients around and we are happy for our clients to visit us at any time and to see their garments at any stage of make. In fact, we are happy for our clients to watch their suit be made... from start to finish.
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Surgeons' Cuffs
Published: Wednesday, August 30th 2006
What does it mean?
It is a term that has become synonymous in modern day tailoring that means your suit jacket has 4 real holes (a working cuff)
The cuff buttons must be able to be opened to allow the cuffs to be turned up or rolled up.
In the Victorian era, it was common practice for doctors and surgeons to work in their frock coats. The surgeons of the era would literally undo the button working cuff on their jacket, roll up their jacket sleeves,take out the tools of their trade and get on with the job on the patient!
This practice of working in your every day wear, even to perform major surgery, continued for many years. It was only stopped when surgeons realised that infections in patients were linked to the clothing they themselves wore.
So the next time your tailor asks 'do you want surgeons cuffs' ? you will know exactly what it means!
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Caring for Your Suit
Published: Sunday, August 27th 2006
Caring for your suit is pretty straight forward, with a little consideration it will last you years.
Discuss with your tailor the requirements for your suit, ie, how many times per week you would like to wear it etc.
If you are the kind of person to be hard on your suit please inform the tailor as the first subject matter is to ensure you are 'put in' the correct fabric for you and that the cloth is up to the job you require of it.
It may seem simple remove your jacket when driving.
When you sit down pull the creases on your trouser legs off to the side. This will prevent stretching.
Try not to carry extremely heavy objects in your pockets, especially in your jacket, unless this has been taken note of at the order stage. Heavy objects in pockets are probably the number one cause of severe shape loss with jackets.
The best place to retain the shape is on a suit hanger, usually the one that comes with your suit. They have a large width and a good shape to the shoulders.
Rotate the use of your suits even if it is your favourite, it needs time to 'rest and recover'.
Dry cleaning in the UK is very hard and as there is a lot of shape in a jacket, it needs to stay that way to look good.
You really are better off finding a good valet service that will sponge and re-press your jacket correctly, yes It will cost more, but will be well worth it. Your jacket should come back as good as new and does not really need to be done that often to maintain it.
Trousers, in my opinion are perfectly ok to be dry- cleaned as they are pretty straightforward
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Ask, Ask, Ask
Published: Tuesday, August 22nd 2006
This article is as simple as it sounds.
Choosing a tailor can be a hazardous task and the first thing you have to overcome is the lure of flash premises, it is never an indication of the quality you will receive.
The exception to the rule is the established Savile Row boys, you will never have any problem with them and their work is top drawer.
Unfortunately, this cannot be said for other establishments that employ people that are really no more than salesmen and are driven by turnover.
Once you have decided on your tailor, ask... does he make his own work or send it to a factory in Eastern Europe or a UK based manufacturer?
There is nothing wrong with the factory made gear, so long as it is sold as what it is and not 'jazzed up' and the tailor is telling you it is Bespoke.
Ask... if he makes his own work (in house) where is his workroom? Can you look around the workroom?
Ask... to see garments at various stages of make, from the cutting all the way through to finished garments, you can get a good idea of the person you will hopefully be dealing with for a long time.
Remember, check my tips on 'how honest is your tailor' before you go and it will be quite evident and easy for you to distinguish 'the good, the bad and the ugly'.
ASK, ASK, ASK.
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