How to make a bespoke coat. Part 2
After drafting the pattern it is placed on the cloth. We have to make sure that the cloth is used as efficiently as possible so as not to waste any of it with a “bad lay”.
There are some inlays which we use. Some of these are for the purpose of corrections during the fitting. These will be cut off after the fitting has been completed. Others will stay in the coat forever, and will allow for alterations at a later date. Some people put on weight over the years, and one of the nice things about bespoke clothing is that it can not only be made smaller, but also bigger!? I would say that this is a major advantage over Made-To-Measure, although it is a subject that we usually discreetly avoid talking too much about. 
How to make a bespoke coat, for real. Part 1.
Sometimes, people ask me why a bespoke suit costs so much money. Well, in my case, it isn’t because of the grandeur of my name, or the wood panels on the wall of my shop. I have no shop, I work at home, and I don’t have a grand name either. I’m just a regular guy who does his best to make the best. And this is how we get to the prices.
To make a bespoke suit, a tailor has to go through a number of steps. 220 steps, to be exact. Well, I don’t know if that is exact, I never counted. It might be 235, it might be 210. But that is the kind of amount you should think of. And each of these steps should be done well, because once you start saving time, all this little nibbling at quality will add up, and the total outcome will be less.
So I thought it would be nice to actually list all the steps that go into a coat.
First off, drafting a pattern.
A pattern for a coat. From left to right: Back, middle part, front.
Yes, it says Ego on the back, that’s how I indenitfy patterns for myself. A remnant of my monastic years, I guess. In any case, the first step is taking the measurements and drafting a pattern.
That means, when a new client comes, or when an exisiting client wants a suit in a different style, we cut a new pattern. Unique to that person. So we do not adjust an existing industry pattern, we literally start from scratch. After all, it’s bespoke, isn’t it?
The best suits in the world?
There are some tailors who claim that they make the best suits in the world. And honestly, I do suppose that they do. I’ve seen some of it, and I would not dispute.
There are probably some readers, who believe that the next thing that I’m going to say, is that I too make the best suits in the world. But I won’t. While I’m proven to be very cheeky indeed, and I’m often -quite mistakenly in fact- taken to be arrogant (it just looks like that when I try to hide my insecurity), I seriously cannot go and state something like that.
I don’t mean to deride others at all, and if someone believes his suits are the best in the world, I guess it must be true. But what exactly makes a suit: “The best in the world?” I cannot tell you, and I am a tailor! It’s just not possible to define and qualify suits. (Sound like the art-principle again, Martin?)
For one thing, there are so many tailors and cutters and coatmakers and everything out there, it’s well-nigh impossible to decide what is ‘the best’. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Furthermore, you can’t put a qualitative norm, deciding between good, better, best etc, on something like bespoke clothing. Yeah, beacuse it IS an art.
Simply because something is made really very very well, doesn’t mean it is ‘the best’, when good/better/best is dependent on rationales that cannot be qualified. Like the type of floating canvass, for instance. If you consider a more or less rigid canvass to be the standard for a good suit, something very soft and supple will not qualify as good, let alone best. Right? If you want a suit to be very tightly cut, then a suit which drapes comfortably, isn’t up to spec.
So, now that I’ve properly confused everyone, I hope, let me get to the point. I will do this by showing you a few photo’s:
A piece of collar linen, and a piece of collar felt. These two are sewn together by hand, to form the undercollar of a coat.
An undercollar just after it was hand-padded. I haven’t touched it with the iron yet.
You see the way it won’t lay flat? I made it that way. By holding it in a specific way while hand-padding it, I create a slight tension between the two layers of cloth, which will cause it to always lay flat on the chest once the coat is ready.
The same undercollar after I trimmed it and pressed it flat.
You can see in the last picture that it seems to be flat on the table now. But the tension which I built into it is still there, and it will always stay there. This will ensure that the collar will never ever show its points turning up, as you sometimes see on coats of lesser quality.
The point of this is the following: I could just as easily have used a pre-made undercollar. It is machine padded, comes on a roll and all I need to do is cut it off and trim it. Saves me a fair bit of handwork. And I’m not saying there is anything wrong with it.
But it isn’t the best way, in my opinion. The best way is to do it by hand, like I do. And it is that way of making decisions when making a suit, that determines whether or not it will be the best in the world or not: With every stitch, every cut, and the putting on of each button, this and every other tailor, had better do it with the full intent to make that particular suit the best damn suit in the world. That is what makes bespoke, that is what makes a suit shiny or dull: The passion, the zeal, the drive to make that one top all others.
Survival of the luckiest
How lucky can a man be? The last week has been enormously magnificent. Some of you know that I used to be a fervent sailor in the days before the monastery, and I was totally thrilled when Biomiko invited me to join him on the trip from Danzig to Copenhagen. It wasn’t his first time making the voyage, but for me it was, and it was also the first time I had ever sailed at sea. And did I enjoy it! On the way there, we sailed with a wind of 8 on the Beaufort scale, which is pretty strong, I can tell you. But, being Dutch and all and the Dutch being known for their sailing skills, I managed to keep my food inside.
Yup. Eight Beaufort, waves of up to five meters. Damn, I felt rugged.
Biomiko was there too. With such wind, and a bit of help from the engine, we managed to reach Copenhagen in time for New Years’ Eve, which we celebrated on the deck, under a canopy made of one of the sails. I could post some pictures of that as well, but err… that wouldn’t be very wise, I guess
Sunrise on the Baltic Sea…
What stunned me the most, aside from the magnificent skies on the Baltic sea, and the wonderful character of the Danes, was the following: Just as we sailed into the port of Copenhagen a storm was picking up. It picked up in a large way, and it turned into a severe hurricane. Over force twelve on the Beaufort scale, which equals windspeeds of over 73 Miles per hour. I mean, the Beaufort scale doesn’t
even go above force 12! It was the first time this ship ever made it to Copenhagen for New Years’ Eve, and if it hadn’t we’d all have been stuck in a driving hurricane like a nutshell tossed left and right.
How serious it was, only was revealed to us when we returned to Danzig a few days later: The storm had been so severe, that a 120 yard long aircraft carrier had capsized and foundered. Capsized so fast the crew didn’t even have time to launch their rescue boats. Talking about being lucky!
Needless to say, I was shocked and saddened when I heard that news. How unfair life can be: some vacationing guys and lasses make it to port on time, and a craft full of hardworking sailors perishes. But that is how life is: unfair. My heart&prayers go out to them and their next of kin. And I give thanks and thanks again for being alive.
UPDATE: I learned a number of months afterwards that the disaster with the aircraft carrier had happened in an earlier year. Still, scary bit of sea.
Anyone in Paris care for a suit?
I’ve been asked by a certain very reputable conoisseur of Bespoke suits to come over to Paris. And I think that is just great, because i’ve never been there.
I understand there are many people overthere who appreciate a severely good suit, so if anyone of you is reading this, please drop me a line. You can reach me at martinstall@gmail.com. Alternatively, you can call me at +31 6111 111 61. But? I’ll be at sea until the fifth, and I doubt there will be a network, and if there is, a call will cost me as much as a suit, so my cell-phone will be switched off. I apologize for the trouble.
You might like to know, for convenience’s sake, that I speak fluent French, if a but faulty here and there.
Incidentally, is there anyone in Vienna who wants a suit? I’ve never been to Vienna either, but I hear it’s marvelous. Kind of like:”you haven’t lived if you haven’t seen Vienna”.?
Note to Martin: Maybe I should make a seperate category about being cheeky.
Adventures…
This is my ship:
Well, it’s not my ship at all, really, but I’m sailing on it tomorrow, so it already feels like my ship.
This ship is called Zawisza Czarny, which means the Black Knight. It’s a schooner built in 1901 and I’m happy as a monkey with a peanut machine to go and sail on it. It’s been some ten years since I did any serious sailing, so I’m rusty, slightly nervous, and oh so excited!!!
It’s sailing at sea. The Baltic sea. The voyage will takes us from Gdansk to Copenhagen and back.
The Baltic sea is cold. Martin, what have you gotten yourself into this time?
Well, at least winter only really started yesterday, so there won’t be any ice. Rule out the Titanic syndrome.
Hopefully we’ll make it to Copenhagen in time for New Years Eve. With a bit of luck and if the wind is right, I should be back home on the fifth on January. I’ll be offline until that date, so please don’t worry if I don’t answer my phone or reply to emails as fast as I usually do.
I’ll just wish everyone an early splendid New Year’s Eve, and may the New Year bring you all that you wish for. I just hope everyone is wise enough to know what to wish for! You might actually be granted your wish, you know…..
I think my blog looks a lot better now, and it should after the amount of time and clicks I’ve spent on it during the last few days, but if you come across any errors, please forgive. My webmaster will fix everything in January, as he is on holidays at the moment. Thanks.
Cheers!
Bespoke tailors driven out of business by computers? I don’t think so… (The whole story)
One cannot really speak of “the” difference between machine-cut suits and those cut by a human cutter. The difference is either huge or it doesn’t really exist, depending on one’s point of view. If a bespoke suit is seen as a number of dimensional figures and some cloth-technical elements, coupled to the wishes that the client expresses, there probably won’t be much difference to be seen. But I don’t define bespoke in that way. To me, a bespoke suit is built up out of several elements, most of which a computer or a machine could not process. The sizes and the elements that a computer can process are but a part of the whole.
Perhaps the present day machinery isn’t as developed as I am imagining now, but it will be, and probably quite soon. The bottom line is that a body can be digitized: All possible configurations can be scanned and referenced. The downside is that it would take a whole pile of work to define beforehand all the physical forms and deviations that can be perceived in any given customer. I’d estimate, roughly, that you’d need some twelve retired (meaning also extremely proficient) tailors. Whatever. A lot. You’d need them for, say, a year or so. And they’d have to pour all their knowledge in it, and then you’d end up with a sort of workable configuration, I assume.
And still, all that knowledge in such great machinery, it would never out-cut a good cutter. It couldn’t. And I’ll tell you why. Read more
Bespoke tailors driven out of business by computers? I don’t think so…
A couple of days ago, I received an email from a student in The
Netherlands, where I am currently based. In it, he asked me an
interesting question. So I wrote him a reply, and that kind of turned
into an epistle of sorts. The original message and my reply are
available below for you perusal.
Dear M. Stall,
I am writing a thesis about mass customization and the influence of
technology on traditional tailoring. Since you are an expert in the
field of traditional tailoring, I would be honoured if I could
implement some of your knowledge into my thesis.
If you could find the time to answer this question, I would be very thankful.
What is in your opinion the main difference in measuring with the help
of a body scan and the cutting with the help of cad/cam technology
compared to the traditional way?
Do you think that with this emerging technology the traditional tailor will soon be extinct?
Thank you very much.
Warmest regards,
G. v. O.
UPDATE: since this question gave rise to quite a lengthy discussion, I decided to take all the lengthy talk off of the frontpage. If you like to read a bit of serious discussion, you may click here for the continuation. I would also quite like to know if there is anybody else out there, either from the trade or from the MTM industry, who has any thoughts of his or her own about it.
Blog Maintenance
This week, the software that powers my blog has been updated. On the one hand I'm quite happy with this, because it will allow me to manage the thing much more efficiently. And if you've been here before, you have probably noticed that martinstall.com was in dire need of some serious maintenance and management. On the other hand, while updating, all comments that people have left in the last few months, have been deleted. That's right, the gentle people who built this software didn't figure that a blogger would want to keep the comments left on his blog. I'm speechless and dumbfounded, but what can I do.
So please people, help me out and do leave a comment here or there if you feel like it. I appreciate it, and on behalf of the software team at Joomblog, I apologize.
Another issue that I'm not very pleased with, is the fact that all posts that I have made are now dated and archived wrongly. Not that it matters all that much, but it does look sort of strange when you read and article, dated october, announcing a trip to london in august. I'm fast, but not that fast!
During the next few days, I'll be working to set things right, so please bear with me and, like, don't mind the mess. Please.
Now: Happy news! In this new version of my software, there is more functionality and whatnot, so I'll be working to improve the overall workings and mapping of the site, which should render it a whole lot more agreeable to read these pages.
Plus, I'll be adding categories which I intend to fill with posts that I've been brooding over for the past weeks. Quite a few ideas bubble up when I work, but as I was very busy trying to meet deadlines, I couldn't free up the time to work them out. Now I have holidays, yay! And that means I can finally spend some time working on my blog, yay!
UPDATE: I also found out that many of the links on these pages now link to the wrong articles, golly what a mess. I really apologize.
Buttonholes on the sleeves
It is notoriously hard to define bespoke. There used to be certain elements by which you could immediately identify bespoke, and these definitions held up until some ten or fifteen years ago. Around that time, large-scale clothing producers started en masse to use particular traits of the classic bespoke art in their suits. Things that come to mind are of course the often discussed working buttonholes on the sleeves, but also the striped sleeve lining found its place in Ready-To-Wear (RTW). Or the tiny, hardly visible, stitches on the edge of the jacket. Basically, it was a way for producers to make their products more exclusive. ‘Hey, this coat’s got striped sleeve lining, I’ll have that one, because doesn’t it look nice and classy?’ Apparently the marketing trick behind it worked, because nowadays you can see this sort of feature on clothes in all quality and price ranges. Probably, most people don’t even realise why things like that are done that way. I can tell you it hasn’t anything to do with quality. That doesn’t mean it is bad, I’m just saying that it’s a pity when people try to upgrade products without actually adding value to them. Because in the end, you, the customer, pay a higher price.
Same thing with the buttonholes on lapels. For decades, they used to be simply stitched on, without being cut open. Ready-To-Wear factories had, and still have, machines that will make a perfect buttonhole. After a while, one could see that RTW coats were being made with buttonholes that were actually open. No use to them, other than giving the coat a more exclusive look. Kinda catches the eye. Now, there are two kinds of buttonholes: the first one is just straight, the second has a little hole in the end, which makes it resemble a keyhole. While RTW producers for a while used to put real, opened-up, key-hole type buttonholes on the lapel, it got through to them that in the world of bespoke, the keyhole-type is a serious no-no on lapels. The reason? It reeks of automation and Ready-To-Wear. So now you see RTW producers making real, working, open buttonholes. Without the little hole at the end. I like that kind of thing: how many times can you run in the same circle, trying all the while to look like you’re in a different circle?
Another item that has become very popular in the RTW industry, is the floating canvass. A number of upper level producers offer a range of coats where the fusing has been replaced by a floating canvass, just the way a good coat ought to be made. Now there is something that does increase quality. I’m all for it: It increases durability as well as comfort and appearance. A canvassed coat, (how long will I go on about canvasses…) feels more comfortable and will move with you and behave in a much more pleasant and comfortable way. But that’s been said before. The thing is that if you make a canvass, a coat doesn’t become good, or well-fitting, simply because the canvass is there. The tailor should know for who he is making the canvass. I consider this a very important point. There are about, oh, I’d say some 200 different ways to cut and make up a canvass. So the tailor observes you, and based on your physique, and on the wishes regarding silhouette that you have, decides what type of canvass he uses foryour coat: First of all in the choice of canvass material, then in the cut that is used for the canvass, and finally in making it, prior to basting it into the coat.
The point I’m getting to with this: Bespoke depends on much more than simple, defineable technical factors. You can have all the hallmarks: canvass, buttonholes, drafted especially for you, and so on, but what good is that when your tailor doesn’t know for the life of him how to listen to you? If he pursues his own definition of style or beauty, disregarding your wishes? If a tailor doesn’t notice, for instance, that you have a habit to fold your arms in front of your chest, necessitating a bit of extra drape in the back? ‘Sir, for a good fit, it’s best to let the arms hang down, it will give a much cleaner look.’ Right.
Bespoke depends first of all on the tailor. And secondly: it depends on you: the customer. You will need to give your tailor the information he needs in order to be able to satisfy you. And then he needs to listen to that and apply it. After those fields are covered, and only then, do the technical matters come into view:
Because no matter how well a cutter can cut for you, if it’s fused and stitched all over, it’s obviously not bespoke. And likewise, if it’s all made according to the rules of the art, but just not the way you want it, what do you have? Something just as good as-top of-the-line RTW, and just as ‘not quite right’. After all, you went to a bespoke tailor to get served up what YOU wanted, right?
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