The Lost Art of Tailoring- Blending the Best of Both Worlds

   
     Any garment that requires lots of 'HAND' sewing seems to scare people away. (This is what students in classes have said.) Personally, any project that takes weeks or months to complete probably will not be on my bucket list anymore.  I like products and gizmos that make the task fast and perfect.  The tailoring process can be very time consuming and challenging if you choose to create the entire project with nothing but hand sewn methods.  I love the quality of traditional methods but I want it faster.  There are so many new products and
techniques available to speed things up.  I like to use traditional 'sew in ' canvas on strategic areas and fusible on the rest. (And your hand sewing skills can be sloppy because it's all on the inside !

  It may be difficult to find instructional materials with good visuals if you are trying to learn the process.  Most sewing people probably do not own text books on the topic (like I still have) but there are a few good tailoring books written by Adele Margolis.  Her books are still available on the internet.   Booklets written by Stanley Hostek on tailoring are available at Amazon.  His hand sewing skills are beyond amazing!  Claire Shaeffer and Roberta Carr are also good resources.

     Traditional 'Sew-In' type woven inter-facings have lost their popularity because people want faster results offered by fusible products.  I get it.  Try using HAIR CANVAS in strategic areas like a collar stand.  HAIR CANVAS provides a strong yet soft support that fusibles can't seem to replicate.  Again, stitching does not have to be neat.  Hair canvas panels on the front of a jacket or a coat will support the buttonholes and the area where the button are sewn.


Look how beautifully the collar stands up without collapsing!  Without the support from the canvas it will collapse and look shapeless.

  Fusible inter-facings available today are significantly better than the products we used in the 70's and 80's.  I try to combine the best of both worlds to speed up the tailoring process without sacrificing the quality of my work.  (Hair canvas is available from tailoring supply houses like Wawak.com located upstate NY.)

In the photo below I have fused a product called  'Grid-Weft'.  It is a very loosely woven fusible mesh  designed to beef up a limp or loosely woven fabric. On fabrics that ravel a great deal the fusible locks the yarns in place. This silk tweed is loosely woven and has a  significant amount of fluid drape weight.  The Grid - Weft will help to reduce shredding and stabilize the grain.  Regular fusible inter-facings tend to create a more rigid 'body'.
     After the mesh is fused to each pattern piece I mark all of my notches, darts, buttonholes etc. with contrasting colored thread for excellent visibility during the construction process.

The BLACK is the fusible GRID WEFT.













The horse hair  (hair canvas ) is attached to the GRID WEFT with hand CATCH stitches to keep it secure.  The catch stitches on the edge of the hair canvas are stitched to the black Grid Weft to keep it from curling .

The dart was cut out.  The edges of the dart were butted up together .  Then a strip of silk organza was placed over the cut edges and they were zig-zagged together.  This eliminates the bulk of the dart yet still provides shape of the dart.  Also, notice how the horse hair canvas is NOT incorporated into the seam allowance.  There is a strip of TAN silk organza that is sewn to the canvas and then the silk organza is sewn to the fabric.  It is important to keep the canvas away from the seam allowance because it will add tremendous stiffness and you will not be able to press the seam open.

The catch stitches on the edge of the hair canvas are stitched to the black Grid Weft to keep it from curling and flapping. The stitches do not have to catch the fabric but they can.

 The under collar has weft FUSIBLE interfacing applied to the fabric for body.   This is NOT the GRID WEFT product.  The under collar needs body and structure.  In addition to the fusible interfacing there is a portion of the under collar with the hair canvas.  This area is know as  a 'stand'.
The hair canvas has tiny catch stitches to keep it securely attached to the interfacing.   The stitches do not go through to the fabric.  You can also machine stitch a line of straight stitches at the fold.  Fusible hair canvas is another option for this step if you do not wish to hand stitch.

 In the photo above you can see how the hair canvas allows the collar to stand up beautifully on it's own.

 In the sleeve cap I added a 1 inch wide strip of bias mohair to give loft to the sleeve head.

Ready made shoulder pads are often made of foam covered with nylon.  I find these pads hard to work with.  The foam usually ends up tearing and crumbling.  The shape of the pad doesn't seem to fit right where it connects to the armscye of the sleeve.  The curves are in the wrong places.

See how the pad is shaped ?  That's because each layer was sprayed with 505 temporary spray adhesive and shaped on the shoulder of my  mannequin.  You can even do it on your own shoulder.
Making your own shoulder pads are incredibly easy to make.   I shape a few layers of hair canvas and a couple pieces of cotton flannel .  You can add fleece depending on how thick you want them.  Then I stitch them together with a few loose stitches since the spray glue is temporary.  Because these are fabric and not foam they will stitch to the seam allowances beautifully.  This size shoulder pad provides gentle structure and support without looking like football shoulders.

This silk tweed fabric came from Sawyer Brook,  MA.