Floating canvas (I dont know)

[Guest]

Hi.

I have read somewhere that in a bespoke jacket the canvas floats. Does that mean it's only attached at the lapel and all the edges? When the jacket pockets are sewn from the outside do those seams also involve the canvas bit or is the canvas not sewn there at all?

I would really appreciate your replies as I am working on a college project about bespoke clothing and I really want to do a good job.

Thank you.

[Guest]

anyone know?

[Guest]

Although I'm only an amateur tailor, in the jackets that I've made and examined internally, the pockets are constructed before the canvas is installed..
So the canvas is placed over the pocket assembly.
One RTW Armani jacket that I examined had a weft-insertion interfacing fused to the front and the pockets were then created. There was also a floating canvas in this jacket.

[Guest]

In "real" bespoke jackets the canvas is essential for the construction and is cut after the cloth has been cut. Pockets are not sewn through the canvas, they are made after the first or second fitting.
The floating canvas is attached or fixed to the cloth at the lapels, the armholes and the stitching at the chest pocket.
You might want to check one of my former posts for this:
http://thelondonlounge.net/gl/forum/vie ... ilors+work
The text is german, but the pictures show it all.

SG

[Guest]

the canvas is attached at the lapel, the armhole and the front edges. most but not all will use a cotton edge tape.that joins the canvas with the wool at the edge. later the back of the canvas is linked to the already finished pocket. the back edge of the facing [where it joins the lining] is also fastened to the canvas. where the under collar is sewn to the gorge its also sewn,but allowed to flex free at the shoulder seam.
previously a canvas was understood as just a canvas. but people have gotten into the habit of calling it "floating" it dose not float. the description above shows that to be true.

[Guest]

But doesn't this reply counteract the one that SG gave? Which is correct then? Are the pockets and linning sewn or not on the canvas?
Also please remember to sign.
Thanks
K

[Guest]

Different tailors do it differently, depending on how they learned it from their master tailor. This might as well go back several generations of tailors. Although there are basic "ways" to do things, there is room for individuality.
This is the most common way in Germany. Or at least it used to be in the 50's, when the book, where this page is from, was written.
Some of it is described in the post before this one(like the tape along the front edges etc.)



The lining itself it not attached to the canvas. Only the inner edge of the facing is attached to the canvas with more or less flexible stitches.
I learned to stitch the chest welt pocket through the canvas after the pocket was completed, fixing it only along the side edges(visible or invisible).
Sewing the pocket through the canvas makes the bottom seam very thick( up to 5 layers of material present)! And you would have to cut through the canvas as well!

I guess "floating" canvas today is simply the opposite to fused versions. Fusing got popular in the 60's, before that is was just called canvas or "Einlage", because there was no other way to do it. And for real bespoke garments this is still the only way to do it!
The different layers of the canvas are also attached to one another with flexible hand stitches, allowing some movement!
This image shows how bespoke tailor Martin Stall does it. Only hand stitches here, so it takes much more time than using a zig-zag machine, like less passionate tailors (including myself) would use! Before somebody comments on it: this is not the finished version of the front parts canvas. There are some additional steps missing(stay tape along the lapel's fold and the padding of the actual lapel).




SG

[Guest]

Although I'm only an amateur tailor, in the jackets that I've made and examined internally, the pockets are constructed before the canvas is installed..
So the canvas is placed over the pocket assembly.
One RTW Armani jacket that I examined had a weft-insertion interfacing fused to the front and the pockets were then created. There was also a floating canvas in this jacket.

what you describe sounds like the fused re enforcement around the pocket.