Hand Sewing in Shirts

[Mark Seitelman]

I was wondering whether hand sewing was more prevalent in the past in all fine shirts, or is hand stitching more a Neopolitan technique?

Borrelli is famous for its hand work, such as at the buttons, buttonholes, collar, shouders, and other areas. I understand that other Neopolitan shirts have the same hand work. I purchased some sports shirts at Oxxford last year which were made in Italy, and were hand finished at the buttons, buttonholes, collar, etc.

I recently purchased a couple of Oxxford bespoke shirts made in the USA which had a hand turned collar which was sewn by hand to the body and hand sewing at the yoke-shoulder (but not at the other points of the body-arm point).

Did fine British and American shirts have such handwork in the past? Or is hand work solely a creature of Italian shirtmaking?

My current crop of bespoke Turnbull shirts have no handwork, and I have seen no such hand work in other shirts that I have owned (Bruce Cameron Clark, Takly, and Individualized Shirts).

Thank you in advance for your responses.

[Mark Seitelman]

P.S. The gussets on the Oxxford bespokes were also sewn by hand.

[alden]

Before Singer and before there was CAD CAM, garments were sewn by hand, stich by stich.

In Italy the tradition has been maintained because clients expect it and are willing to pay for it. In France, hand sewing of shirts and suits has all but vanished.

Hand sewing requires artisans. Machine manufacturing requires manual workers. There are fewer artisans than workers.

If you visit the ateliers of Neapolitan shirtmakers, as I have done ,you will see there are alot of older ladies sewing away as they must have done centuries before.

Hand sewing renders shirts more comfortable and more aesthetically pleasing as well. Once you are used to wearing shirts like this, you will have a hard time going back.

That's the one sure thing most of us who dress bespoke have learned n'est-ce pas?

[RWS]

Before Singer and before there was CAD CAM, garments were sewn by hand, stich by stich.

In Italy the tradition has been maintained because clients expect it and are willing to pay for it. In France, hand sewing of shirts and suits has all but vanished. . . .

Key to availability is affordability. Because Italy for many centuries was a poor land with very low wages, craftsmen worked for scant recompense: an economic boon to the rich of the peninsula and even the middling visitor from abroad. I wonder whether much handwork will be available in Italy should high wages continue for another generation.

[alden]

Yes. That's why the tradition has continued in the poorer regions of the South of Italy. In Naples the ateliers look alot like organized sewing clubs, mainly women who work to bring in some extra money to the family. They seem to work part time in a manner that allows them to look after their families. Its a different world. I don't think these ladies have the desire to work in a more formal environment even for higher wages. Some probably do and they work for the factories like Borelli and Kiton.

[Mark Seitelman]

However, we still must return to the initial questiion: is hand finishing solely an Italian technique? Were American and British shirts hand sewn in the manner of Oxxford bespoke which is an American company in Perth Amboy, NJ.

[Lookingtoimprove]

If I may take a slight side-step within the topic discussed:

How do I recognise hand-stitching?

Thank you for your trouble in explaining.

Mark

[manton]

There are great pictures on the Yahoo site of hand-made shirt buttonholes. I don't know if you can access that, but if you can, they're better than any written description.

As for other seams: check the yoke to back seam and the outer armholes. Machine stitches will look uniform, close together (no space or shirt cloth in between) and numerous (as many as 16 per inch, even more with some makers). Hand stitches on the same seam will look like little dots, spaced quite far apart. You will not see a clear "line" of stitches like you will with machine stitching.

[uppercase]

There is quite a debate re. machine vs. handstiching in shirts.

Most bespoke shirts, though cut by hand, are largely stiched by machine; many clients
prefer machine stiching feeling that machine stiching is more durable and crisp. But more probably one simply can not find handstiching in this day and age.

The London , Paris, Rome bespoke shirts makers , I believe, only offer machine stiched even if one requested a hand stiched shirt . Only the Naples made shirt provides an appreciable amount of hand stiching throughout the garment.

Indeed, making hand stiched shirts is a cottage industry in Naples dominated by women to supplement household incomes.

Inspite of extensive handwork, there is no appreciable price difference between bespoke machine vs. bespoke handstiched shirts.

So it comes down to a matter of preference as to availability style, comfort and sensibility which stiching style to chose. The Neopolitan shirt is very different than the London shirt for example. Apart from the cut, I feel that the handstiching provides a softness and light touch on the skin which a machine stiched shirt can not; it also is a more beautiful, more sensual shirt by virtue of the work of the skilled human hand.

The Borelli and Kiton shirts are MTM rather than bespoke and cannot be properly called bespoke. But still, they are very distinctive shirts which I imagine give us a taste of a true bespoke Neopolitan shirt. Just as their MTM suits give one a taste of a true Neopolitan bespoke suit.

But there are fully bespoke Neopolitan shirtmakers, using paper pattern making shirts individuallly designed throughout to your specific requirements.

It would be a treat to find and patronize those Neopolitan master shirtmakers.

[T4phage]

I would also add that handsewing has the possibility of altering tension at different parts of a seam... to allow for the shirt to better mould to the person. This is not possible with machine stitching.

[Mark Seitelman]

I must note that the hand stitching at the two points on the Oxxford bespoke shirt is very subtle. You have to look very carefully.

In comparison, Borrelli provides a little booklet setting forth each area of hand sewing.

[Guest]

I must regret, in North-Italy there is no shirtmaker left, that makes handsewn shirts, apart from buttonholes that are always handmade. We have to go south to the river PO to find someone.

Well, there is Finollo in Genova and Siniscalchi in Milano, shirtmakers of the billionairs, that have crazy prices.

Anyway, the problem is to find workers, people that still want to became artisans; today everyone is graduate, and everyone want to be a manager, without sweating too much ...

[Cantabrigian]

Mark, does Oxxford make bespoke shirts? I was under the impression that, at least in the NY botique, they only offered a somewhat basic MTM.