The London Lounge

Alan Bennett of Davies & Son on his recent visit to NYC discussed handwork:

"Harry Helman, a tailor who is no longer with us, said many times: 'The number of stitches doesn't count. What matters is the right stitch in the right place.'"

This reminds me of the famous engineer who visited a GM plant having a problem in power generation. He met with the the engineers, examined the blueprints, toured the facility and, producing a piece of chalk, walked over to the armature of one of the generators, marking it with the comment 'reduce the wrappings to here'.

When questioned about his bill for $xxxxx1.00, he commented that the $1.00 was for the chalk, the $xxxx0.00 for knowing where to put it

So it goes,

DDM

DDM,

I've heard this story told of Steinmetz, developer of alternating current. It's repeated with an attribution here:

http://chem.ch.huji.ac.il/~eugeniik/his ... nmetz.html

at the very bottom of the page. He was quite a character!

Couch,

Thanks for the citation. My father told me this story maybe 25 years ago and I've never professed to know the details of the situaion.

Thanks ever so much for the education!

DDM

Mark Seitelman wrote:Alan Bennett of Davies & Son on his recent visit to NYC discussed handwork:

"Harry Helman, a tailor who is no longer with us, said many times: 'The number of stitches doesn't count. What matters is the right stitch in the right place.'"

This is a fantastic quotation. Too often people get caught up in which tailor/maker has more handiwork than another and miss out on the fact that there is so much more to what makes a great suit. A garment can have all the handiwork in existence and it's all for naught if it doesn't fit properly.

So what was the subject of that thread a few months ago? Oh yes, the amount of stitches in the lapels of an Oxxford jacket!!

As young aspiring cutters, Akan Bennet, Malcom Plews, myself and a few others would meet with Harry ata local pub and listen to his theories on the cutting and making of a coat. he was a true master, teacher and gentleman. Not many like him around any more.

Leonard

Leonard Logsdail wrote:So what was the subject of that thread a few months ago? Oh yes, the amount of stitches in the lapels of an Oxxford jacket!!

Leonard

Bespoke quote of this week as reported to MES by Len Logdail:

Customer: How many stitches do you sew in the collar and lapels?
Len: How do I know? I just put in the right amount!

Mark Seitelman wrote:

Leonard Logsdail wrote:So what was the subject of that thread a few months ago? Oh yes, the amount of stitches in the lapels of an Oxxford jacket!!

Leonard

Bespoke quote of this week as reported to MES by Len Logdail:

Customer: How many stitches do you sew in the collar and lapels?
Len: How do I know? I just put in the right amount!