Suit sewing quality: vintage and modern

[Minh]

I was wondering if there is any noticeable difference in the quality of the sewing and handwork of the best suits from the 1930s compared to today? I was curious about this after seeing our fellow member Voxsartoria's excellent photos of a suit, made in 1935 by Anderson and Sheppard. The shoulder seam appears to have been sewn extremely finely, almost to the point of disappearing:





Compare this modern suit that's hand-sewn from Oxxford. Setting aside the basting thread, the shoulder seam appears as a more visible ridge.



I also remember reading a post from Foster & Sons describing how their interwar shoes were sewn at 16 stitches per inch, compared to 10 stitches per inch or so in most English bespoke shoes today. So if there's a difference in the quality of sewing in shoes, it might be reasonable to expect a difference in suits. There are superb cutters and tailors working today, but perhaps certain steps are no longer economically viable.

[alden]

HI Minh

I studied this very question when I viewed the clothes made for Windsor by Scholte. I found the stitching on the tweeds and overcoats to be comparable to that on my own coats (handsewn, of course.) The handwork on his formal clothes, however, was exceptional. The stitching was so fine it had to be done by electron microscope or, at the very least, with many hours of painstaking travail.

Cheers

Michael

[ismailalmurtadza]

I was wondering if there is any noticeable difference in the quality of the sewing and handwork of the best suits from the 1930s compared to today? I was curious about this after seeing our fellow member Voxsartoria's excellent photos of a suit, made in 1935 by Anderson and Sheppard. The shoulder seam appears to have been sewn extremely finely, almost to the point of disappearing:





Compare this modern suit that's hand-sewn from Oxxford. Setting aside the basting thread, the shoulder seam appears as a more visible ridge.



I also remember reading a post from Foster & Sons describing how their interwar shoes were sewn at 16 stitches per inch, compared to 10 stitches per inch or so in most English bespoke shoes today. So if there's a difference in the quality of sewing in shoes, it might be reasonable to expect a difference in suits. There are superb cutters and tailors working today, but perhaps certain steps are no longer economically viable.

The houndstooths is just stunning.

murtadza

[theoldesouth]

The past master shows us lovely workmanship.

Just the sort of painstaking effort that I would hope for in quality bespoke apparel. Even today.

[jb]

The shoulder seam on the tweed is an example of what can be done with hand stitching on a cloth like that. Oxxford sews that seam by machine today, but if it were hand sewn, it still would not be as nearly invisible on that worsted cloth as on the tweed from Anderson and Sheppard. I didn't have the machine skills of my boss to ease the extra length of the back shoulder seam (to create fullness over the blade area), so I always sewed it by hand, but either is perfectly acceptable. I mentioned in another thread that my favorite was sewing the lapel facings by hand on a soft cloth. When done well, you couldn't see the seam. It also gave a different look to the whole lapel.

My boss had an Oxxford from the 1930s that was an inspiration to look at for the hand work. It was made partially lined in their style and the bellows pockets on the inside of the coat were done in incredibly fine, uniform hand stitches. Everything I looked at was done about as well as I could imagine it being done.

Joel

[Minh]

Thanks for sharing the first-hand experience jb and Michael -- that's very helpful. Interestingly, it's quite hard to find books on the changes in the construction and sewing of suits over the decades, though many books cover the changes in their style and appearance.