The textile manufacturers, cloth merchants and tailors I have talked to say that today's stuff contains far fewer defects than the stuff made back in the day.
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Vintage Suitings: Discussions of, and sourcing modern equivalents, etc.
- Thread starter Guttersnipe
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mimesis2nemesis
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Personally, my main gripe with today´s fabric selection is that if you want a really good heavy weight fabric you have to break the bank, whereas back then it was more available... If you're on a budget you can't even dream of getting your hands on nice fabric and i nstead have to get the so called 'supers' or worse... Synthetic blends 
herringbonekid
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i'll take the fabrics of yesteryear with the occasional 'defect' over the fabrics of today.
This is a vintage pair of British cream flanells, that is certainly summer weight. It is half as thick as my Finnish grey flanells I got from FFF.
In any case to light for winter wear. (BTW if anyone is interested in these cream flanells, PM me. The cuffs are 25 cm wide and with the cuffs undone, the inleg can be considerably extended from the original 30 inches.)
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BTW here is some fantastic grey flanell with slightly blueish hue that I found today on a fleamarket.
1.70x1.45 meters... enough for a pair of slacks I'll make for myself some time soon.
It's lighter or medium weight. I think around 14 oz.
Very soft and drapes very well.
Cheers
In any case to light for winter wear. (BTW if anyone is interested in these cream flanells, PM me. The cuffs are 25 cm wide and with the cuffs undone, the inleg can be considerably extended from the original 30 inches.)
...
BTW here is some fantastic grey flanell with slightly blueish hue that I found today on a fleamarket.
1.70x1.45 meters... enough for a pair of slacks I'll make for myself some time soon.
It's lighter or medium weight. I think around 14 oz.
Very soft and drapes very well.
Cheers
Qirrel
Practically Family
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I have a pair of 30s flannels which are made from pretty lightweight flannel, probably around 10-11 oz, but I also have some very heavy 20s sports trousers. At about 18 oz. they wear warmer than my 30s flannels, but they were perfectly wearable in sunshine and 30 degrees C.
Guttersnipe
One Too Many
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In manufacturing, the defect percentage is certainly one of the metrics by which quality quantified.
Vintage fabrics certainly do have more "character" than modern ones - which absolutely mean in a good way!
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I saw this on facebook and thought I'd give it a share. Not sure whether any other UK members would also like to check it out.
http://londonclothcompany.wix.com/londonclothcompany
Two Types
I'll Lock Up
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I would certainly be interested.
Matt_the_chap
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My tailor in Sheffield has recently been offered quite a few bolts of vintage cloth, going back to the late '40s as far as we can tell. Simply from the feel of the fabric compared to that in the swatch books, it's possible to tell that the quality of modern cloth, even the low-end stuff, is miles ahead of what it once was, manufacturing-wise. Perhaps the most telling point is that the low end cloths were sometimes recycled wool, hence the 'Pure New Wool' labelling we have today.
The availability of heavier weight fabric is another matter entirely but purely from a manufacturing standpoint, the quality of fabric is astonishing these days.
The availability of heavier weight fabric is another matter entirely but purely from a manufacturing standpoint, the quality of fabric is astonishing these days.
herringbonekid
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i suppose it's good that we have some voices insisting that modern cloth is 'superior' or 'astonishing'; it means that there's less competition (for people like me) over the vintage cloth when it turns up for sale.
The mother of a former friend of mine was teaching at a tailoring school. When she saw one of my 1930s German jackets she was in awe. She had never seen fabric like this and said the quality was beyond anything available today. It was nothing special, kind of a sunday best suit of the period. [huh] To me, weight is a very important factor for quality. It is important for a good drape as well as for crease resistance. Also, I wouldn't want a tissue weight cloth that rips as easily as the Super 100s. In the 1930s they didn't have Super 180 fabrics. The highest thread count was around 80. And those were wonderful fabrics.
Well to each his own I guess... under "modern criteria" of what constitutes comfort, quality and elegance, one might see advantages of present-day cloth.
Anyway... I just got hold of a 13 meters bolt of crazy good Austrian 1930's thick'n'scratchy medium grey herringbone worsted with silver and wine red pinstripes. That makes 4 suits.
Anyway... I just got hold of a 13 meters bolt of crazy good Austrian 1930's thick'n'scratchy medium grey herringbone worsted with silver and wine red pinstripes.
That makes 4 suits. Featured products
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herringbonekid
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I just got hold of a 13 meters bolt of crazy good Austrian 1930's thick'n'scratchy medium grey herringbone worsted with silver and wine red pinstripes.
you need to start turning some of your fabric into suits then !
Anyway... I just got hold of a 13 meters bolt of crazy good Austrian 1930's thick'n'scratchy medium grey herringbone worsted with silver and wine red pinstripes.
Please post some pictures. It sounds stunning.
You seem to find so much! I'm going to have to visit some freinds in Deutschland and explore the flea markets/junk shops...
Sure - will take a photo of the fabric these days.
With some substantial input of time and effort, some good finds are bound to occur.
More often than not my endeavours on fleamarkets etc. yield no results... so all is relative I guess.
But one needs to be thorough and inquisitive.
Digging through heaps of modern textile junk yielded several times interesting vintage suitings.
What places of Germany are you going to visit?
With some substantial input of time and effort, some good finds are bound to occur.
More often than not my endeavours on fleamarkets etc. yield no results... so all is relative I guess.
But one needs to be thorough and inquisitive.
Digging through heaps of modern textile junk yielded several times interesting vintage suitings.
What places of Germany are you going to visit?
I'll really have to put the time in and check up on a few shops i've previously ignored. There's got to be more bolts of pre war cloth out there...
My freind is from Kiel in the far north, but I'll definately be exploring further south for some vintage hunting.
There's got to be more bolts of pre war cloth out there...My freind is from Kiel in the far north, but I'll definately be exploring further south for some vintage hunting.
Interesting. How so?
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