Suit De-construction

[BigSleep]

If you have a vintage suit that you really like but is in less than great condition there must be places where you could take it have it dissassembled and pattern made from it.

It could then be duplicated in any fabric and even adjusted for size.

The downside would be that the original would have to be sacrificed.

I remember reading in the old Banana Republic catalogues from the 80s that they would often do that with vintage pieces.

Anyone ever do this?

 

[Matt Deckard]

Haven't done it, though I don't have any vintage pieces i want deconstructed. You can have a copy made without taking apart the suit, though it may not turn out as perfect as one made from using a deconstructed suit.

 

[herringbonekid]

i've taken apart a suit and a pair of trousers to learn more about the construction*. if the original is unwearable due to moth-damage or stains then it may as well be put to another use.

a modern tailor could copy a suit without having to take it apart, but modern tailors usually have a bias to one style or another and that bias can creep into a design. draughting a pattern from a disassembled suit would be the most accurate way. what you can't copy so easily however, is the internal construction, and this is what will probably be skimped on by a modern tailor.

* i've tried a bit of amateur tailoring. nothing really to show for it yet, but i understand the internal construction much more. and appreciate how difficult tailoring really is.

 

[Rosie]

I'm not a guy of course

but, I have taken apart dresses and trousers in order to make patterns for things. That is how I learned to sew. Now, I can "eyeball" something and pretty much make a pattern from it.

 

[Tomasso]

It's Doable.

I heard of a man who took an old worn tweed suit back to his Saville Row tailor and had the suit turned inside out, literally. It was disassembled and then reassembled so that the unworn side of the fabric was on the outside.

 

[Dietrich]

I heard of a man who took an old worn tweed suit back to his Saville Row tailor and had the suit turned inside out, literally. It was disassembled and then reassembled so that the unworn side of the fabric was on the outside.

Here in Britain there was a time when practically all working men would have the same done, labour being cheaper than cloth back then. During the forties, the same would apply to virtually all clothes, with 'make do and mend' being the motto of the day - tatty sweaters would be unpicked to knit socks with the wool, bed linen and curtains would become shirts and dresses. Parachuting spies provided windfalls of silk for rural ladies. May we all be greatful to live in an era of $8 t-shirts and $15 jeans, even if we are dismayed that people choose to wear them.

A good bespoke tailor should be able to precisely copy any suit you bring to you without dismantling the suit, but you'd be looking at bespoke money ($1500-$4000). A made to measure tailor will be able to vaguely approximate a suit but as they're altering a stock pattern it'll only have the same rough shape and features such as lapels, vents and sleeves - imitating the construction of a suit is beyond made-to-measure. Some very skilled (and invariably very old) alterations tailors may be able to copy suits if you purchase the cloth yourself, but it's pot luck how good a job they'll do.

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

anyone tried this recenty?

 

[cookie]

Disassembling Suits

I have an alterations guy in Sydney who is a genius and was telling me today about his training in the Lebanon with his master tailor who he said was the best he ever saw and he worked free for him - at first - as a privilege. This guy then moved to the US and he told me he now makes suits for the top Beltway Boys.

Anyway I got onto some nice Irish Linen suits that were cheap on the Net and good fabric.

I asked him whether you could by another pair of pants and say make a belt back suit by disassembling and using the pants (USD50) as new panels for the belt back treatment and generally recreating the suit without having to redo the sleeves front etc. He said you could but it was like AUD200 -300 worth of work. At that price he advised me you would be better to go new manufacture.

 

[Elaina]

Best advice is to ask. Yes, it is possible, and it's not really that much extra work, but many tailors do not have the necessary skill to make a suit that fits like a vintage one, even with one in front of them.

I know that I laughed at the local place that does alterations. To say it was horrendous would be an understatement. Frankly, I would be hesitant to take anything to a local tailor for alterations (we're talking about hems. Nothing major) much less construction.

 

[Micawber]

Back in the mid seventies I had the pleasure to get to know and work with one particular old school tailor who would sometimes deconstruct and rebuild complete suits for one reason or another. He was not far off 80 years of age at the time and had been in the trade all his working life, I learned much from him.