Learning how to tailor?

[jcw122]

Hi everyone,

I was thinking to myself tonight, if there's one hobby that would be awesome, it would be tailoring. Is it realistic or even possible to become a tailor by learning completely on my own? Where do I even start? I have 0 aspirations to work for anyone as a tailor, I'd just like knowing the art of tailoring for my own needs and perhaps some friends. I know, it probably sounds like a crazy idea, but it sounds exciting to me.

So, does anyone know of any resources that could get me started? I'm not trying to take classes, get job experience, or anything related. I simply would like to learn completely independently.

My ultimate goal would be able to get to the point where I could make myself my own suit. Thanks.

-Jon

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

I hope this stimulates some advice as I have recently been entertaining the same idea.

My thinking, however, includes getting some in-person instruction. I cannot imagine learning something like this without that. I figured someday I'd swallow my man-pride and go into one of the big fabric stores to see if the little old ladies who work there (and are often very good with a sewing machine) conduct workshops.

[huh]

 

[jcw122]

I hope this stimulates some advice as I have recently been entertaining the same idea.

My thinking, however, includes getting some in-person instruction. I cannot imagine learning something like this without that. I figured someday I'd swallow my man-pride and go into one of the big fabric stores to see if the little old ladies who work there (and are often very good with a sewing machine) conduct workshops.

[huh]

That's an idea. I would like some sort of hands on instruction, but the issue is I am at college for the next 3 years (limited hobby time), and after that I will be on Wall Street with zero spare time, haha.

 

[Tomasso]

Just a guesstimate:

A four or five year apprenticeship with a master tailor or tailoring house might put you at a skill level to actually sew a suit; call that undergrad. It's the easy part. Learning the skills required of a cutter (measuring the client, visualizing and creating a pattern, then cutting the material to be sewn) can take another several years; call it grad school. Then you go out into the world to hone your craft and maybe in around ten years you'll have built a good reputation with a loyal clientele.

 

[Orgetorix]

If you know how to run a sewing machine, you can probably start doing your own trouser alterations almost immediately. Alterations to jackets will take some instruction and practice, but you can probably get there eventually.

If you practice a lot, you might get to the point where you can make yourself passable trousers and shirts. David Page Coffin's books on trouser making and shirt making may help with this. I'd expect it to be a few years before you really got good at this.

As for making jackets, pretty much forget about it unless you can invest the time that Tomasso outlines. Jackets are so complex that unless you know all the tricks of the trade and have practiced them ad nauseam, pretty-uch anything you make will look terrible. FWIW, it takes skill, too--we've all seen suits that look awful made by men who've been tailoring all their lives.

My advice? Use your nice Wall Street salary to patronize some of the great tailors NYC has to offer.

 

[BellyTank]

"Skill" AND/OR "Talent".

You have to be able to make something that works as a garment
but if you can make something- meet, or exceed expectations and create something aesthetically pleasing, then that's the good stuff.

Yes, jackets are hard.

I made a good few pr of trousers when I was 16 yrs old.
I doubt if I could make them as well as I did then, without some
serious practise.

I do my own trouser alterations but that's rarely suit trous.


Good luck.

 

[zetwal]

Consider classes in your area -

http://www.uscollegesearch.org/custom-tailor-colleges.html

 

[tonyb]

People bring varying levels of relevant experience and innate talent to the task. (Me, I sometimes have to be shown things that are seemingly self-evident to others.)

I'm old enough (barely) to remember people routinely speaking of "store-bought" clothes, as opposed to homemade attire, which was still the norm among many people in our circles. Sewing was just something most people (OK, most women) did. Or so it seemed, anyway. My mother made much of my sister's clothing and some of mine, including a suit she fashioned on the occasion of my first communion, if I'm remembering correctly. These days, with a globalized textile industry and all, I'd think that it likely costs as much or more to make clothing as to just buy it at Target or Macy's or wherever.

I don't think for a moment that a tailor's skills come quickly or easily. I wouldn't even attempt it without guidance from someone who knows the ropes. And even then I'd be prepared to waste material while I was learning the most basic elements of it.

Still, when I see the leather jackets our own fishmeok makes, I know it's quite feasible. For some people anyway. He's largely self-taught ("never took a lesson," he says), but he did benefit from the willingness of an experienced professional to answer his questions.

Making a suit is a much, much more complicated process than making a hat. But even the simple processes in hat-making aren't as simple as they may first appear. Seriously, there are numerous ways in which something as seemingly easy and straightforward as installing a sweatband can be done incorrectly. Once a person has done it 30 or 40 times, though, he develops a fairly good idea of how not to do it.

But that's part of the beauty of such crafts. Even when you get good at it, you can still get better.

I say give it a shot.

 

[jcw122]

Thanks for all the further ideas gentlemen. I'll take them all into consideration.

Last night I found my school library has a few old books on tailoring:
-"Minor and major alterations and how to make them" by Mutolese, Michael. (1950)
-"Tailoring suits the professional way" by Poulin, Clarence. (1952)

I have them on reserve, I'll have to let you guys know how they are.

 

[Medvssa]

May I step in?

If you are naturally handy, I think it is possible to learn on your own. Don't expect to sew anything wearable in the first few years (as a hobby, so not dedicating all your time to it, it will take even longer), unless you train your hand first with "soft" dressmaking. I don't know if this word in English is exclusively used for ladies' dress I just mean less architectural sewing than tailoring of jackets or coats.
If you have never threaded a sewing machine it would be good to take at least a brief class. And this great little bit of advice is the best single tip I've ever found.
I think there was some book in this website about tailoring, but I may be wrong, and at the moment it is down. Great out of copyright books about dressmaking and millinery etc.
They also have an online tailoring class here (under masterclasses, now they seem to be at Part V: "Reconstructing Late Victorian Tailoring Techniques - by Jason MacLochlainn"). You have to subscribe though.

Edit: New month, new bandwidth : http://www.vintagesewing.info/category.html#tailoring

 

[Mr Mueller]

I actually did teach myself how to tailor, although I did have extensive experience as a cutter draper and dressmaker beforehand, so tailoring was simply an extension of a skillset I already possessed. A skillset which took many years to develop. It took a few suits to get a handle on making the jackets, but I have it pretty well in hand now. That being said, I really prefer not to make them if I can help it. Too labor intensive.

Books that have been indispensable to me have been Kawashima's The Fundamentals of Men's Fashion, which gives the basics of suit drafting, and Singer's Tailoring book http://www.amazon.com/Tailoring-Classic-Sewing-Perfect-Jacket/dp/1589232305/ref=pd_sim_b_1. which shows the tips and tricks of tailoring a jacket. This book covers the gamut pretty well from sewing double welt pockets, to shaoing a jacket front.

If you are in college and you would like to gain some sewing skills, you can always look into your college's theatre program and see if they have any costume construction classes you can take as an elective, or if you can simply volunteer in the shop.

 

[Tailor Tom]

I like your enthusiasm. I think their are several routes for you to go.

- You could try your own school, see if they have any courses for design. Many schools with design programs have classes in basic.

- Many fabric stores promote classes.

- community centers do as well.

- try the American sewing guild ( www.asg.org ) for info in your area. They probably have a better knowledge of resources, as they group together and exchange information regularly.

- arts and craft centers might be a good resource as well. Here in Minneapolis, MN. we have The Textile Center. They provide a myriad of options, a great textile library, classes in everything from sewing, to fabric dying, to knitting, quilting etc. They also have a gallery to showcase local talents.

- if you do get the books and read up on things, I also suggest ( your student budget allowing) that you purchase a second hand suit. Use this as a tutorial tool to go along with the reading. Tear it apart, or rather tear 1/2 of it apart so you can see, feel, touch what they are trying to explain in the books.

- if you do wish to go further and buy your own sewing machine, star with something basic, it doesn't need to have all sorts of bells and whistles, 99% of the time you just stitch a straight line. It is more important that it be durable and strong enough to handle multiple layers of fabric well, as a simple jean hem has 9 layers of denim to stitch through on the hem.

Good luck to you.

 

[Phineas Lamour]

I am not very skilled in the art of sewing but my wife is. One way to practice is to pick up something in the right size, close to the style you want at a thrift store and take it apart. Completely disassemble it and see how it was made.

 

[Chas]

Tailoring isn't sewing. Sewing is something you do when you are hemming something or fixing minor a minor tear.

Dressmaking or tailoring is almost certainly something you need to take at school with an apprenticeship at the end of it.

There are two tailors in my city who have been at it since the 1930's - there was a documentary feature done on them, and it focused on the two apprentices that they had- one made the cut, and the other didn't. Bill & Jack had hoped that the one that did make the cut would take over their business (est. 1913) and carry on the tradition, but unfortunately he went to London.
Modernize Tailors

 

[Geesie]

If 10 year old Burmese workers can make Ralph Lauren shirts and suits, I'm sure that jcw122 can learn to make his own suits from patterns.

 

[Creeping Past]

Geesie, I like your way of thinking. With a bit of this and, hopefully, some of the innate talent/ability others have mentioned, it's doable — together with patience, concentration and application.

We're not just talking wishful thinking here. The point is that everything anyone's ever done has started with someone saying, "I really want to..."

I'm starting off making clothes myself. It'll be months, if not years, before I'm wearing anything self-made outside. But that time will come.

 

[Fletch]

Interesting...some of us demystify, others remystify. Are both, in their way, right?

jcw, if there were books teaching tailoring in the early 50s, some questions come up. Was the mystique the same in that era - when the skill set was a lot more common? Did they warn the reader not to expect success unless prepared to fail and fail again? Was the tradition, at the time, actually less traditional?

Also, we don't question the institution of apprenticeship. Traditionally it involves a kind of indenture - demonstrating subservience to the master craftsmen, and progressing not by talent but by serving your time. How do these assumptions sneak in when we think of the craft/trade? (Rest assured - they do.)

this great little bit of advice is the best single tip I've ever found.

That advice is not only something of an open secret; even knowing you need it is something of a secret. It's kind of an artificially maintained barrier to the beginner - something the trades traditionally need.

 

[Geesie]

Interesting...some of us demystify, others remystify. Are both, in their way, right?

jcw, if there were books teaching tailoring in the early 50s, some questions come up. Was the mystique the same in that era - when the skill set was a lot more common? Did they warn the reader not to expect success unless prepared to fail and fail again? Was the tradition, at the time, actually less traditional?

I just reached over and checked my Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing (1976) and The Bishop Method of Clothing Construction (1959)
and while both mentioned that tailoring a suit is advanced-level stuff, they state that it is possible to do as long as you're patient and attentive to detail.

 

[Fletch]

You're a demystifier, then.

FLers with some time onboard will know I'm kind of a nut on the topic of trade and craft. I apologize for being a bit tiresome, but it IS an elephant in the room, and if nothing else, we ought to pull the tablecloths off it and see how white it is.

Just because we relish tradition need not mean we hold all of it above question. Especially when a tradition shows signs of extinguishing itself: do we let it?

 

[Medvssa]

Great thoughts Fletch.

I am personally in favour of demystifying. It is either that or death for many crafts. However much I appreciate the nostalgia, I still think we invariably idealise the past; not that this changes how I feel about it.

Trade and craft secrets at one time sparkled competition and inventiveness, but at this point in time, I really think they are mortally dangerous for the survival of these arts. Maybe because of the enormous amount of information out there, which keeps on increasing daily, this knowledge, the fact that it exists even, will dilute to homeopatic levels if we keep it secret.

Many probably want it to be that way, to perhaps raise the value of that which was made in the past, I don't know. While I personally give old things a value just because of their age and their history, I do not think that these objects and the skill that created them is unattainable today. We are not stupid, we are not clumsy, and we are in no technological dark age however you look at it. These crafts may need a lot of dedication and study, but then so does becoming a surgeon, and still people do it now better than ever before.

This subject is perhaps a bit touchy for me since I am an enameller, which is an ancient craft that was nearly lost, and luckly is experimenting a little renaissance. Much was lost to trade secrets. This is a shame and a pity, I think. I share everything I know with anyone that asks. I don't care if this makes my work less "exclusive". I think it is great that many hobbyists dabble into it, it makes it and the difficulty of the process more known. I don't want my craft to dissapear in oblivion.

Edit: two new posts while I was typing myself... I heartily agree!