Short fuse

[Guest]

Is there a way to determine if an off-the-rack or made-to-measure coat has a fused front (or other parts) without taking it apart?

[Guest]

Not very easily. The front is pretty easy: you should be able to feel a layer of cloth inbetween the lining and the actual fabric.

Fusing will make the cloth a bit thicker, but with some types the difference will be ever so slight, and impossible to tell.

Other areas, like around the pockets, or around the armhole, often have parts that are fused. Virtually impossible to tell, most of the time.

Martin

[Guest]

You can always tell, regardless of how light a canvas has been stitched in place, on light weight cloths, you can feel the rows of threads, left by the stitches between the forepart front and the lapel.
You can also turn the lapel over, and holding the jacket up, you will see the faint impressions left by the stitches also.
On thicker cloths, the actual pad stitching will have taken a 'bigger bite' of cloth and are very clear to see.
However, some ready to wear makers 'skin', or fuse the jacket fronts with a very light fusible, then, have a canvas that extends over to the lapel and pad it on.
You also need to feel very carefully down the front of the jacket to determine if it is a full canvassed jacket.
A few times running the fronts between your fingers can easily determine if the canvas is all the way down the front, you can feel the separate layers.
Des Merrion.