I love working with wool! All the wool I've worked with to date has been woven, so boiled wool is a new experience. It's actually a dense knit, and unlike a woven it doesn't ravel. Not a shred! Still, I pre-treat it as I would for any wool. My TNT method is the London Shrink. [...]
Yes, a new project has taken off... and once again it's because I must be looking at too much French couture fashion! First it was Kim Jones at Dior. Then I fell down the rabbit hole of Hermès. Now it's Givenchy, and the initial offering of their new designer Matthew Williams. You can see the [...]
As promised, I'm finally getting around to posting some of the construction details from my Stylemaker projects. I'll start with the waistcoat first. The instruction booklet for the Belvedere Waistcoat emphasizes the importance of interfacing the fronts. The goal is to have it sit smoothly over the chest without buckling. My longtime readers know that [...]
Eventually the lining has to be made. I'll be honest with you, it's my very least favorite part of any tailoring project. I have SO MUCH admiration for all the sewists out there who add piping, all kinds of little pockets and wildly curving seams. I just want it over and done with ASAP. So [...]
My last post was mostly about a big mistake that I made. But that's all in the rearview mirror now. It's full steam ahead on the Covid-19 blazer. This post will cover some simple tailoring techniques. Keep in mind that I'm not a professional. These are just some techniques that have worked for me, and [...]
I've been wearing the same LL Bean barn jacket to work for years. It's served me well, but it's in disgraceful condition. The corduroy cuffs and collar are frayed, the front is permanently stained with coffee, it's missing a button, I could go on. For someone who can sew, it's an embarrassment. So I've had [...]
OK, call me crazy but I like to get dressed up a bit to walk the dog (my sweet schnauzer Homer). It's a special time between us, usually early enough in the morning that it's just the two of us out in the neighborhood. It's such a great way to start the day. After a [...]
I'm pretty much set for the staff Christmas party / potluck next week. Skip the velvet blazer, bring on the flannel! I bought the fabric this summer at Peter's MPB day. It's from Metro Textiles and was so inexpensive it's almost embarrassing. It's much beefier than any of the flannel offered at the "LL" store [...]
I've launched into the pants. My plan is follow the pattern directions for the front slant pockets, but I'll defer to Cabrera for the back welt pockets. Why you might ask? Firstly, his directions are crystal clear and there's a line drawing for each and every step. Secondly, I can totally ignore all the fiddly [...]
I'm making steady progress on the wedding suit. It's been awhile since I've done any tailoring, so the amount of basting and handsewing has been a little overwhelming at times. I'm using the Roberto Cabrera book on tailoring which is usually helpful, but tonight he has me totally baffled about constructing the collar. It's almost [...]
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