The London Lounge

Most of the pinstripes on my jackets, such as the ones in the photo of the Enzo Caruso suite below, match at both the top and the bottom of the pocket:
IMG_6213

I recently tried a new tailor, and the first couple of suites made for me were of plain cloth and turned out well. Then, I had a pinstripe coat made, which produced the result below, where the majority of the stripes match below the pocket flap but do not line up at the top the pocket:
IMG_6215

Is it acceptable for pinstripes to only fully match below the pocket? Or, should a tailor always be able to match them on both sides of the flap?

Also, when inspecting the stripes, I noticed that on the Enzo Caruso jacket that the cloth below the flap is one single piece, whereas the jacket with the mismatched stripes has the cloth below the flap divided into two panels. What are the pros and cons of having one panel versus two panels for the bottom of the jacket, and why would a tailor chose one method of construction over the other? It would seem that better pattern matching at the bottom would always be achieved with a single panel.

I'll let others handle the technicalities of construction. But in general, you sometimes get a choice between what will match and what will fit your body well. (Cf. Bown's Bespoke on getting the shoulder stripes to match.)

rlambert wrote: Is it acceptable for pinstripes to only fully match below the pocket? Or, should a tailor always be able to match them on both sides of the flap? .....It would seem that better pattern matching at the bottom would always be achieved with a single panel.

I'm not a tailor but I can tell you that the way Mr. Caruso played with the darts, suppressing the waist at the right spots and letting them out to perfectly match the pinstripes at the pocket, is exquisite.
But perfect matching of pattern is not always possible, even in the case of a "single panel" front (just imagine in your case that the dart went all the way down changing the width of the stripes).
Maybe some of the tailors at the LL community would like to illuminate this thread.

Matching can, sometimes, only be achieved at the front of the dart. the results depend on the width of the stripe, the weight and construction of the fabric and the body being worked on. I'm a stripe-matching nut, but sometimes lose this battle

Leonard

Leonard Logsdail wrote: .... the results depend on the width of the stripe, the weight and construction of the fabric and the body being worked on.

Hence the paradox that it´s easier to get matching stripes on an unaltered RTW jacket than on a bespoke one which is molded to your body.
Even If you see that your tailor shop has perfect matched jackets on display on the forms, be ready for the possibility of some mismatch if you want some contouring.