Molloy & Sons' Donegal Tweed - 545g/m

[Frederic Leighton]

I have a bunch of swatches from Molloy & Sons that also includes the cloth you have used. Very interesting to see it now in full effect.

At the moment of choosing, I wasn't sure between brighter blue and muted blue (which has a different weave). The latter is what my dad would call 'carta da zucchero'; both him and the tailor recommended it. I chose the other one and, funny enough, they loved it once it was made up as a suit. Do you already have some favorites among those swatches?

On a side note, I have been looking for an eight piece cap not as full as what is standard. Did you get yours recently? Or is it another vintage piece?

I can't be of much help here, unfortunately. The grey cap (herringbone) is a vintage Dunn&Co, similar in fullness to what is standard now. In one photo only, I wear a matching 8-piece cap in the same cloth as the suit, received few days before I took the photo. The cut is incredibly full, which at the beginning almost shocked and disappointed me. It's an old shape - I saw identical ones in 1920s-30s photos. After wearing it few times, I now love it, although the cloth needs to 'age' a bit and take some rain. This cut will probably be the standard for all my future orders.

My personal experience with hats is very similar to the one with suits - you build up familiarity and confidence as you wear them; eventually, you won't feel formal, baggy or anything wrong anymore. Your suit will just feel the right thing for you, the natural manifestation of your personality. To a friend liking 8-piece hats and being afraid they might be a bit too flamboyant, I would say - force yourself to buy an inexpensive one and wear it for two weeks, no matter what you feel like or what people say; after that, you will know what is right for you.

[mcritchlow]

Frederic,

Wonderful suit! I think your cloth choice was a good one, I nearly went for that one myself, and your tailor really did a fantastic job executing your vision.

I'm wearing a wheat herringbone Molloy jacket myself today and recently had the green made up as well. I think my next will hopefully be the excellent blue/gray barleycorn that Michael designed, as I think it's something truly special.

Enjoy your suit in good health!

[T.K.]

Do you already have some favorites among those swatches?

As a matter of fact, last year I bought enough for a jacket of the dark grey (070135), but started to regret it right away. I feel I should have chosen a brighter colour. Yet still, the idea of a dark odd jacket that is not navy does fascinate me. So I hope I will use the cloth some day.

My personal experience with hats is very similar to the one with suits - you build up familiarity and confidence as you wear them; eventually, you won't feel formal, baggy or anything wrong anymore. Your suit will just feel the right thing for you, the natural manifestation of your personality. To a friend liking 8-piece hats and being afraid they might be a bit too flamboyant, I would say - force yourself to buy an inexpensive one and wear it for two weeks, no matter what you feel like or what people say; after that, you will know what is right for you.

Thanks for the friendly advice on wearing things apparently distant. I confess that I am afraid of standing out. However I feel best when wearing a suit and tie. The reason is simple: I wear a suit because I am going to work and so I am dressing for an occasion. In doing so I become part of something greater, a reality in which I may find back myself again. I do not think dressing for the sake of dressing alone is a good thing and that somehow you have got to find a way of blending in no matter how low the norm has sunk. Enough proof for that on the blogs. In the end it really is all very personal and there is no way of skipping finding your own one. Just as you describe it!

[alden]

Very nice suit. If that lovely cloth is available today, you can to some degree thank the action of the LL cloth club.

I have told this story before…a few years ago I had the idea to create for the LL a real Donegal tweed, the kind I had acquired and made up decades ago but could no longer find. I contacted Molloy one day and explained my quandary and request. “You want to make a traditional Donegal cloth again?”, came the reply a bit in disbelief, “that is our heritage, but we haven’t had the opportunity to make any for quite some time. All the Americans want is lightweight tweed and that is what we make. It would be great to make real Donegal again for your members.” I heard stories that afternoon of fathers and grandfathers, the tweeds they used to make and the clients they used to have. The very first LL Donegal was woven a few months later after a bit of testing that revealed a cloth every bit as good as that from previous generations.

The rest is pretty much history. We have made quite a few traditional, real Donegal tweeds since then. And I encouraged Molloy to return to their heritage in full force by creating a small line of heavy, traditional Donegals to sell via the net to real bespoke clothing aficionados. They chose the colors and I gave them some advice. And the result is that today there is a nice selection of real Donegal on the market where there wasn’t really before.

So, the action of the LL cloth clubs’ members had a part in keeping a great fabric making tradition alive. And that is exactly in keeping with the objectives of its charter. And there are many more stories of this kind that most cloth club members will know. We are delivering right now a quality of Thornproof right out of the history books. The Brisa, Mistral and Piuma qualities were all taken from the archives in disuse, dusted off, tested and made here. The Etna and Everest quality cashmeres were made in total opposition to the trend for featherlight cashmush using methods from Edwardian times. The 530 gms flannel quality from the Fox Bros. 1930s archives is alive, well and available today. And finally the very best quality of Irish linen, that none of the distributors wanted to carry, is flourishing in the LL Lounge Linen selection.

We are indeed having an impact in preserving the finest things and I am very thankful to all of you who made it possible. Well done!

Cheers

Michael

[Frederic Leighton]

[...] last year I bought enough for a jacket of the dark grey (070135), but started to regret it right away. I feel I should have chosen a brighter colour. Yet still, the idea of a dark odd jacket that is not navy does fascinate me. So I hope I will use the cloth some day.

T.K., that's the same cloth I chose for my next commission! You have all the reasons to be excited about your dark-grey odd jacket - I already had two basted fittings (as this is another complex project) and I'm very excited about what I see.

Very nice suit. If that lovely cloth is available today, you can to some degree thank the action of the LL cloth club. [...]

Thank you, Michael! I definitely am very grateful to the LL for its active role in bringing back to life wonderful cloths. As a matter of fact, the delivery of my share of Brown Herringbone Shetland is due today.
EDIT: The envelope with the cloth is now on my desk...
EDIT2: ...is on my desk and it contains the wrong fabric!
EDIT3: the wrong fabric, which I actually love and am going to keep

[jb]

Frederic,

Very well done! I love your suit and I particularly like that you love it. I can see that this is not one of those suits that you will struggle to find opportunities to wear; in fact you may find you have to will your hand away from it every time you go into your closet.

Back in the 70s, when I was learning tailoring (before I went a different direction and ended up on the other side as a customer), we made Donegal tweed suits for most of our good customers. I saw in another thread that Frank sews all of his lapel facings by hand. I learned to do it both ways, but I was crazy about hand sewing facings on tweeds like this. When done right, you almost can't see the seam at all; it looks as if the two pieces have been woven together and there is a special look to the lapel.

To that end, I say a thank you to Michael for whatever part you have played in making cloth like this available again. The Molloy tweeds look great and I think that Chris is going to have to make up one for me to be ready for next fall.

Joel

[Frederic Leighton]

Very well done! I love your suit and I particularly like that you love it. I can see that this is not one of those suits that you will struggle to find opportunities to wear; in fact you may find you have to will your hand away from it every time you go into your closet.

Thank you for the kind words, Joel. You are absolutely right; I certainly don't lack opportunities to wear this suit! Although I don't work in an office environment but wear suits 7 days a week for pure pleasure, cloth and colour of this one are citified enough for a day in the West End, thanks also to the 3-piece combination.

Thank you for sharing your experience in traditional tailoring, Joel. Just yesterday, my tailor was telling me of his father. He started his apprenticeship at the age of 10 and opened his own shop at 15. He wasn't 20 yet when he moved to the UK, but knew all the tricks of the business. He was employed by a tailor to attach collars by hand and, passed a certain minimum number of collars, he would receive extra money for each collar. The young man proved to be so fast that the agreed minimum number of collars was done by lunchtime and the tailor didn't have enough work to keep him busy for the rest of the day! My tailor says that his father, now probably around 80, would still beat him with his unmatched speed.

[ggreen]

Gentlemen,

This is slightly off topic, but since we are talking about Molloy tweeds here. How can one tell the right side on their tweed? I just dropped off a length at my tailor and we had trouble figuring out which side to make. It is a herringbone if that helps at all.

Thanks, Greg

[Frederic Leighton]

How can one tell the right side on their tweed? I just dropped off a length at my tailor and we had trouble figuring out which side to make. It is a herringbone if that helps at all.

Hi Greg, I don't have the herringbone swatches in front of me so I'll speak of my two barleycorn tweeds. The wrong side looks slightly flatter (less bumps) and, possibly for the same reason as the light hits the surface more evenly, of a slightly lighter shade of colour.

[ggreen]

Hi Frederic,

It so happens I have a small piece of barleycorn, so I will look tomorrow in good daylight. Herringbone is flatter on both sides than either side of barleycorn, but perhaps I can figure it out. Is the way it comes folded from Molloy any indication of which side is which?

Greg

[C.Lee]

... I just dropped off a length at my tailor and we had trouble figuring out which side to make...

If your trained eyes could not discern a difference, then consider the cloth double-faced!



If it keeps you up night, a call in to Shaun and family should put the issue to rest.

Regards.

[alden]

Is the way it comes folded from Molloy any indication of which side is which?

Yes, the way the cloth is folded from any mill tells you this. The inside, protected fold is the outside. The outside of the fold, the one you see, is the inside.

Cheers

[ggreen]

C.Lee, it occurred to me too . If I can't tell the difference and even my tailor is unsure then either side can be used.
Michael, that's what I thought, but wasn't sure.

Thanks, Greg

[Screaminmarlon]

Hi Frederic,
I recently had the same cloth made up as a coat and I thought I might share a pic



I really like the Molloy and Sons Donegal, thanks to LL CC and Michael Alden for giving them the confidence to remake real fabrics
saluti
M.

[Frederic Leighton]

Thanks for sharing, Screaminmarlon! beautiful coat (and I like your tie)!

I have the second one in Molloy's tweed still in the making, slowed down by Christmas/New Year commissions that flooded my tailor's shop. It's coming out very nicely. My tailor lives just on the other side of the river, not far from where I live, so I often pop in for coffee, chat and fittings. As we chat, he carries on with his work on the usual office-blue, thin-clothed commissions and tells me more about the skills involved. Always inspiring.