It is travelling tailor season again and Peter Harvey and Graham Lawless of Davies & Son were in San Francisco last week. They arrived with a work in progress - a city suit in a 15 ounce worsted from Smith's Whole Fleece bunch. The cloth has substance between the fingers but it feels significantly lighter on the body than either a flannel or a tweed of the same weight, and should be wearable much of the year. 
It is always good to see friends but our visit demonstrated once again the benefit of a forward fitting for bespoke clothing. This piece is the sixth or seventh item Peter has made for me and the pattern is close to perfected by now. Nonetheless, his well cut left sleeve has been attached incorrectly and needs to be rotated. The creases at the back of the shoulder and at the back will go away once it has been removed and re-attached. It needs to be shortened as well.
When a tailor simply sews a suit and sends it on, as the otherwise very competent Hong Kong boys do unless instructed otherwise, problems like this must be noticed by the often inexperienced customer, who must then wait until the tailor's next visit before returning his suit to Hong Kong. What is on the surface a faster process - as little as three months - ends up taking at least as long as the Savile Row firms require, and is considerably more stressful. Assuming of course that the customer has noticed the ripples behind his shoulder in the first place.
Always have a fitting.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Always Have a Fitting
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6 comments:
Will,
Is the only way to detect in a fitting whether the sleeve needs rotating just the ripples behind the shoulder?
I totally agree with you. But in addition to the forward I would advice anyone to go for the skeleton baste too. The skeleton seems to me extremenly important even if you are an older custumer.
I know there are many reputable tailors that do not do the inlays but I think even the best tailor can make mistakes. So if I were you I would insit to go through the skeleton baste as well as the forward. And if the tailor gives you the chance go also for a third fitting. The more fittings you go through the better chance you have to own a perfect suit.
EA
Will,
do you have the fabric number for that grey? I am interested in getting a mid grey and a navy whole fleece suit.
Cheers,
Carl
Glad to read Peter have worked with you over 6-7 garments. Being able to build rapport with a particular tailor gets more enjoyable.
I haven't been able to treat myself to such an intensive sartorial consumption, the most being three garments. However, being a maker there has been occasions when I would have made at least 5 full samples for one finished garment. The highest number of samples per garment finished so far is 9 for a particular semi-tailored jacket, six of which related to how the collar stand behaves in relation to the massive collar and the rest of the garment (the remaining three were for 'obvious' changes such as jacket length, collar size, pocket additions and DB width). It can get a bit insane sometimes, and ignoring them renders me sleepless.
Excellent cut on the coat in that picture. Very slimming.
I have recently bought exactly that princely cloth from Smith Woolens in London. Would you consider showing us a picture of your finished suit/coat sometime? I will have it made in the near future and would love to see your choice for it. I would be a great inspirationa.
Thanks and all the best.
LG
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