Photo: Derek RoseI have learned that I have been wrong and it has only taken five years for me to arrive at that conclusion. You see, I used to have my pajamas made by my shirtmaker. Unlike shirts themselves, where better fit and fabric costs no more than ready to wear, made to measure pajamas do cost somewhat more (the exact amount will vary wildly depending on the brand of pajamas and the shirtmaker). And so one day I decided there was no point to that expenditure and began buying the products of Derek Rose.
Of course, there is a fallacy in this reasoning. I have found over two generations of sleepwear that instead of the nearly two hundred washings I was accustomed to before my made-from-fine shirtings pajamas were worn out, I have been getting perhaps fifty before seeing noticeable wear in my ready to wears. There are great rents in the cloth before a hundred washings and I find myself thinking about replacing this pair or that almost weekly.
So that is the arithmetic of pajamas. I may have been penny wise and pound foolish but I am going to end that practice, beginning with four pair for the coming season. And now all I must do is select cloth.
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12 comments:
Dear Will,
Sorry it's nothing to do with pyjamas. I have in my wardrobe a rather lovely (and heavy) tweed shooting suit made by Henry Poole & Co in 1956 for my late father. The suit fits me well except that I’m an inch or two taller than he and the trousers – though fine when tucked into my Aigles when on the estate shooting – could do with letting down an inch. Will this ruin the fall of the trouser thus spoiling what is a fine suit?
Dick, so long as there's enough cloth to work with that's the simplest alteration and shouldn't affect the hang of the trousers.
While I have not yet been able to get my hands on made-to-measure pajamas, I've found that my two pair from Turnbull & Asser have held up very nicely. I wear them exclusively, wash them daily, and have been doing so for the past 12 months, readily getting in more than 50 wearings. This is just a suggestion, but, nonetheless, enjoy your upcoming pj's!
Ah, thank you. Now, do you think it would be possible to have the jacket lengthened by 1/2 inch and the sleeves by and inch or would that be asking too much of my taylor?
I wondered if those might not be the next steps. The sleeves are very doable but lengthening the jacket is probably not possible.
If the jacket has working buttonholes the sleeves will need to be lengthened from the shoulder. That is a job that should be done by Poole themselves.
If the buttons are simply sewn on it's a considerably simpler task and there should be plenty of cloth in the facings. I'd still take it to Poole though if it were mine.
Braley, T&A has been one of my shirtmakers for many years. Their unrelenting price increases under the curremt ownership were the cause of my turn to Hong Kong.
Perhaps I should just get my arms shortened - my father did (he could never reach the bottom of his pockets).
Sleep naked. It's much cheaper.
Dear Will,
So are you for made-to-measure pyjamas or ready to wear ones?
Do you use an HK shirtmake for your pyjamas? (your response to Bradley's comment implies that, but it's not clear)
I have inquired of a couple of the HK houses about getting pyjamas made, but they seemed unsure about the job. Any tips?
Fopling, Hemrajani/mytailor.com will make mine.
super - thanks for the tip.
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