The London Lounge

I was wondering if your tailors use any interesting tricks when making your suits, which prove their bespoke quality. I know some tailors use shirt gripping inside the trousers...There’s all the elements that make a good bespoke suit but apart from the standard bespoke details is there anything else?

Thank you

I am not a bespoke tailor, but I can tell you that trouser grips have nothing to do with whether or not a suit is bespoke. In fact, the only time I have ever seen them is when I ordered low-end Asian custom from Mr. Rock or some other factory that visited my university. I have never seen them on any better bespoke.

I would put them in the category of "cheap things you can put in a suit that make it seem expensive but really add no value."

dopey

A really good tailor trick is to make a suit that fits.

Matt

Anonymous wrote:A really good tailor trick is to make a suit that fits.

Matt

Yeah, but that's cheating. I think the OP was asking for something that required skill.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A really good tailor trick is to make a suit that fits.
Matt

Yeah, but that's cheating. I think the OP was asking for something that required skill.

Matt's point, exactly! And the only tailor's trick I want to see performed again and again.

RWS

Making a suit that fits is not a trick, it's part of using white or/ and black magic(starting when I write down the numbers of your measurements). The decision which one is used more depends on my sympathy for the customer! The actual making of the suit is then left to elves and fairies!

There are some tricks I use, though! Here are some!( I learned some from Arti Giani!)

1. The "You look marvellous, Sir!" trick
2. The "Absolutely no problem, Sir!" trick
3. The "Excellent choice, Sir!" trick
4. The "Really,Sir? Well, you don't look any year older than (place number here), Sir!" trick
5. The "The women will be after you when wearing your new suit, Sir!" trick
etc., etc., etc....



An ordinary tailor

Im sure the must be some small tricks here and there that make you go wow. No?

I would not call them tricks. It's more like the essence of experience, knowledge and skills.
So whenever we go "backstage" we use exactly this to perform what might be seen as a trick, like using the iron to create a fuller chest, a rounder back and more space for strong shoulder blades. A good tailor can do magic with an iron, that's for sure.
But, with the fact given, that not many young people want to learn tailoring, this knowledge might be gone one day. Reading books about it is fine, but watching a real mastertailor do it is way better.
If you have the time and your visiting a tailor who cuts and makes all garments by himself( www.martinstall.com or www.desmerrionbespoketailor.com ) why not ask him for a look at his "backstage" area. If he likes you he will show you some "tricks".
Following this link you'll find some trick we have to perform to shape the coat:
http://thelondonlounge.net/gl/forum/vie ... ght=#24011

But then again, it comes down to knowledge and experience. And skills!

SG

Schneidergott, you're really beginning to live up to your name, you know?

To be serious: Tailoring is all about tricks, if that's how you like to call them. Specific techniques, to put it differently.

For instance, to draw in the lapel fold on a coat by means of stay tape. You get a fuller chest and the lapels roll better.
Or a tailor might want to draw a dart on the pattern, then cut into the pattern in a different place. Then he closes the dart (in the pattern) and thus opens the cut he made. The space he creates there can then be eased in, creating more drape or fullness. Very useful for making a waistcoat fit nicely behind the arm.
Or the way pocket flaps are made to stay round by undercutting the lining.

The beauty of the job is knowing which tricks to use for each client.

In short, good clothing is made up of tricks entirely, IMHO. And yes, just as SG states, a tailor might be willing to show you some of them. I remember Des Merrion saying somewhere on his blog that if a client would like to witness the process, he would be more than welcome to sit in and observe.

MS

Here is the lapel fold trick, performed by one of the best tailors I know!

http://www.martinstall.com/index.php?op ... d=88888915

and another one:

http://www.martinstall.com/index.php?op ... view&id=39

Almost every decent tailor with a blog is giving away details of the little tricks a tailor can use!
All together they make the greatest trick of all: To create a piece of art you can wear!(not my words , hope the real author doesn't mind.)
Still, a little bit of magic goes into it after all! We're not giving away everything, you know!

SG

One of the greatest cutters in London in the 80s and 90s used to say: 'Our suits may not fit, sir - but they last forever'.