An American Italian coat benchmade by an Irishman
Posted: Fri Jul 06, 2018 8:40 pm
I recently knocked off no 1 on my sartorial bucket list, a benchmade coat by Mr Frank Shattuck. I had initially considered such a coat to be a goal way into the future given Frank's location in upstate New York and myself in Norway.
However, due to Belimad (Mariano's) pleasant results with Skype fittings with Frank I asked him if he would consider making me one as well. I've had Frank as a Facebook friend for years, and he' been exceptionally helpful on my sartorial adventures, always providing great insight to any questions I might have posed to him.
Frank gratiously accepted to try another "long distance" tailoring experiment, and we discussed all aspects of the sports coat we intended to make at length. Cloth wise, we ended up with dark blue Lovat Etterick cloth, which Frank deems to be some of the best in production today.
Discussions on everything from lapel length, coat length, canvas etc would follow (pretty much on a daily basis!), but first order of business was to get the measurements done. I had expected that a number of measurements would be required, but Frank only wanted chest, waist and seat as well as wanting to know my precise height. In addition I sent him some photos of me in various tailoring, as well as some photos of me in shirt back or T-shirt.
Not too long after the measurements were done I received by Fedex a "muslin fitting". Basically the jacket done up in muslin cloth. We Skyped a fitting with Frank looking at me from every angle, as well as doing some high res photos that I sent him afterwards.
We settled on doing patch pockets, high "neopolitan" lapels and "soft-strong" shoulders.
To my surprise Frank prioritised my jacket completely, working on the jacket by hand continuously for days until he suddenly, much much sooner than I had expected, told me that he was ready to ship the finished item. I must admit I was a bit sceptical that we wouldn't do another fitting first, but Frank was confident in what he had made.
And he sure was right to. I received the jacket two days later and to my eye, and Frank confirmed it, the fit was spot on. I was thoroughly surprised. That he had gotten my uneven shoulders and exceptionally straight upper back right based on a few photos and a Skype fitting was quite surreal, given how many tailors have who have seen me in person multiple times have taken several iterations to get it "just right".
The jacket is absolutely beautiful, and is the best bespoke item I own. I particularly love the special patch breast pocket he designed, which I have never seen before.
In addition, the level of handwork in this coat is unbelievable. Pretty much everything is by hand, and by an exceptionally capable hand at that.
I can't express how much I love the coat. Unfortunately it is 30 C in Oslo now, so I can't wear it much yet, but I'm looking forward to fall already. Thanks to my wife putting me on a diet I've lost almost 2 inches in the waist since my measurements were done, so I'll send it back to Frank to be taken a bit in, but other than that no changes seem to be necessary. How he got the perfect sleeve length without even doing a sleeve measurement is beyond me.
Apologies if this all sounds like a shameless plug, but for me this has just been an eye opener to what true benchmade tailoring is. Frank says he is just trying to be like the old world tailors were, but in my book he goes way beyond that. He told me he could wake up at night thinking about a detail of my coat, and every day we would discuss details on Facebook into the minutest detail. I loved that and never experienced anything close to that dedication to the craft before.
Some of you will have seen that Frank has posted some photos of the coat on Facebook, and I'll try to get some nice photos done in the coming days.
The coat is truly one of a kind, and did I mention what it feels like to wear? I couldn't believe that a tweed could feel like that, but it basically feels like wearing a sweater. It's almost like not wearing anything at all. Very high armhole and a collar that seems glued to my neck, yet doesn't feel stiff or uncomfortable.
Again, photos will come soon, cause to me this coat is something to behold. Many thanks to Frank for jumping on this crazy Internet project between Sackets Harbor and Oslo!
BB
However, due to Belimad (Mariano's) pleasant results with Skype fittings with Frank I asked him if he would consider making me one as well. I've had Frank as a Facebook friend for years, and he' been exceptionally helpful on my sartorial adventures, always providing great insight to any questions I might have posed to him.
Frank gratiously accepted to try another "long distance" tailoring experiment, and we discussed all aspects of the sports coat we intended to make at length. Cloth wise, we ended up with dark blue Lovat Etterick cloth, which Frank deems to be some of the best in production today.
Discussions on everything from lapel length, coat length, canvas etc would follow (pretty much on a daily basis!), but first order of business was to get the measurements done. I had expected that a number of measurements would be required, but Frank only wanted chest, waist and seat as well as wanting to know my precise height. In addition I sent him some photos of me in various tailoring, as well as some photos of me in shirt back or T-shirt.
Not too long after the measurements were done I received by Fedex a "muslin fitting". Basically the jacket done up in muslin cloth. We Skyped a fitting with Frank looking at me from every angle, as well as doing some high res photos that I sent him afterwards.
We settled on doing patch pockets, high "neopolitan" lapels and "soft-strong" shoulders.
To my surprise Frank prioritised my jacket completely, working on the jacket by hand continuously for days until he suddenly, much much sooner than I had expected, told me that he was ready to ship the finished item. I must admit I was a bit sceptical that we wouldn't do another fitting first, but Frank was confident in what he had made.
And he sure was right to. I received the jacket two days later and to my eye, and Frank confirmed it, the fit was spot on. I was thoroughly surprised. That he had gotten my uneven shoulders and exceptionally straight upper back right based on a few photos and a Skype fitting was quite surreal, given how many tailors have who have seen me in person multiple times have taken several iterations to get it "just right".
The jacket is absolutely beautiful, and is the best bespoke item I own. I particularly love the special patch breast pocket he designed, which I have never seen before.
In addition, the level of handwork in this coat is unbelievable. Pretty much everything is by hand, and by an exceptionally capable hand at that.
I can't express how much I love the coat. Unfortunately it is 30 C in Oslo now, so I can't wear it much yet, but I'm looking forward to fall already. Thanks to my wife putting me on a diet I've lost almost 2 inches in the waist since my measurements were done, so I'll send it back to Frank to be taken a bit in, but other than that no changes seem to be necessary. How he got the perfect sleeve length without even doing a sleeve measurement is beyond me.
Apologies if this all sounds like a shameless plug, but for me this has just been an eye opener to what true benchmade tailoring is. Frank says he is just trying to be like the old world tailors were, but in my book he goes way beyond that. He told me he could wake up at night thinking about a detail of my coat, and every day we would discuss details on Facebook into the minutest detail. I loved that and never experienced anything close to that dedication to the craft before.
Some of you will have seen that Frank has posted some photos of the coat on Facebook, and I'll try to get some nice photos done in the coming days.
The coat is truly one of a kind, and did I mention what it feels like to wear? I couldn't believe that a tweed could feel like that, but it basically feels like wearing a sweater. It's almost like not wearing anything at all. Very high armhole and a collar that seems glued to my neck, yet doesn't feel stiff or uncomfortable.
Again, photos will come soon, cause to me this coat is something to behold. Many thanks to Frank for jumping on this crazy Internet project between Sackets Harbor and Oslo!
BB
