The Dreaded Buttonholes...

 

So today I have been working on buttonholes, more specifically hand sewn buttonholes as it is something I have always been interested in, especially because the buttonhole machine at uni only goes up to 2 cm. This is something I find annoying because in previous projects, I have often used larger buttonholes and not being able to use a machine or hand sew buttonholes proved to be very frustrating. I like the idea of not having to rely on any machine to do small finishes and I feel if tailoring is the path I want to take it is something I will definitely have to learn. 

 

Since buttonholes include a lot of hand sewing I thought I should practice some of the stitches that I keep hearing pop up, the image below shows the stitch samples I did. 

 

I have decided to use this piece of fabric as a stitch dictionary so every time I come across a new stitch or a stitch I struggle with I will add it to the rest of my sample stitches. This fabric will be my source of information for when I forget what stitches to use when I'm no longer doing my internship.

 

 

The above images show samples of buttonholes made by Ivor when he was training in Savilerow as an apprentice after uni, he told me that they are not very good examples of buttonholes, but after trying to create my own buttonholes I strongly disagree. I have come to realise that creating a buttonhole let alone mastering one is one of the most difficult things I have ever done. 

 

 

The image above shows how you are supposed to sew a buttonhole, looks easy enough you would think...... No no it is not, it is beyond difficult and if you see my attempts (in the image below) which are disastrous I think the results speak for them selves. 

 

 

As they say practice makes perfect and in my case i'm going to need a huge amount of practice, my aim is to complete one good buttonhole before I return to uni and if I manage that I will have a massive celebration. 

 

This is what I hope to achieve one day.

 

As well as doing buttonholes today I have also been helping out Ivor for some of his clients. The images below show some technical drawings, I was tasked with the job of checking the each technical drawing and adding the relevant information onto it so that it was clear to the machinist on what they need to do.  

 

 

My next job was to trace off the patterns for tailored jacket from the master pattern, once this was done I checked over each pattern to make sure each notch was in the correct place and checked to see if the pattern would work together well. If anything did need altering I altered it and retraced the pattern.

 

 

It has been a day of odd jobs yet a very productive and insightful day. I look forward to using all that I have learnt in my future desings and practice.

 

Constructing A Welt Pocket

I started off this week by creating a welt pocket using the traditional Savilerow tailoring methods where they use canvas and no interfacing and baste around the edges of the pocket to retain its shape and structure. 

Traditionally the breast welt pocket is 11.4 cm long and roughly 2.5 cm wide and is normally placed on the left side of the jacket at the same level of the front sleeve notch. The placement of the pocket is usually slanted at about 1.3 cm but this can vary depending on your personal style. 

To start off my pocket I chalked in where I wanted the welt to go drawing a line through the centre marking where I would cut the opening for the pocket. To construct the welt I had a piece of canvas which was slightly bigger than the welt itself and two pieces of pocketing (one slightly larger than the other). 

The canvas is basted onto the wrong side of the fabric, I then aligned the welt to the centre line I marked on earlier and basted it on the right side of the fabric leaving a 0.5 cm seam allowance. I did the same with the top pocketing fabric making sure that the bottom edge lined up with where I will cut the pocket opening. Once this was done I stitched the bottom pocketing to the welt (right sides together) using a 0.5 cm seam allowance to reduce any bulk. Cutting the opening part of the pocket is the most important part, I cut the opening the same width as the pocket seam making sure to cut at an angle down to the seam ends of the welt. Once this was done I pulled everything through to the wrong side of the fabric and sewed the pocketing together using a machine, I could then neaten the pocket and press open the seams to make sure the pocket laid flat and was ridge free. The images above show some of the process to making the pocket. 

I think my pocket went reasonably well especially considering I sometimes struggle with these types of pockets I think the pocket could have been neater at the edges and this is something I need to work on however I have enjoyed the hand sewing process of the pocket. I'm pleased that I now know the process of making the pocket inside and out due to the amount of questions I've asked Ivor during the making process. 

Bespoke Jacket

During my first week at Nylander Couture I've been working on some patterns for a fitted bespoke tailored jacket for a client. The client wants the jacket to fit as well as one he already owns so I have been using this jacket as a guide for the pattern pieces. The images above show how I have been creating the patterns based on a similar style jacket that we have taken apart whilst adapting the measurements accordingly to fit the client.

Once I was confident that the pattern was accurate and would have a nice fit I pinned half the jacket to the manikin as if it was the real thing and was actually made out of fabric. The images above show how the jacket would fit if it wear on a real person, it also shows where each pocket would sit on the jacket and I have tested them out using the paper patterns so that they are really working pockets, this gives me as much accuracy as possible and shows me what the pockets, collar and the overall fit of the jacket will look like once it is toiled in fabric. The jacket consists of one welt pocket with a flap and one piped jetted pocket, creating these pockets out of paper and fitting them to the manikin was difficult and took a lot of time as it is hard enough to achieve when trying to make them out of fabric let alone paper. 

The jacket pattern has taken a great deal of time to make and still needs some tweaking here and there  however it is almost ready to be toiled and the process was a lot quicker to do then a usual jacket of this kind due to some of the most accurate technical flats I have ever seen. This sped up the whole process and meant that I constantly had a guide to look at, I also now know the areas I can improve upon when it comes to my own technical drawings. 

This week has been great I've loved working on this jacket and have learnt so much about how many pieces go into making a tailored jacket (for this particular jacket it is 30 pieces). Putting the pieces together on the stand taught me about how a jacket is constructed which confused me a lot at first because there were shapes I hadn't seen before and patterns which I had no idea where they belonged. Not only do I have a better understanding of how to construct a tailored jacket but I'm also clearer about what fabrics are used and how much hand sewing goes into creating a jacket and also some of the different stitches used such as a Chevron stitch (pad stitch) which is used to baste the fabric together and helps to create the structure of the jacket. 

Interview with Nylander Couture

On Monday I had my interview with Ivor Nylander, it went really well as he was extremely nice and liked my portfolio. The interview was short and brief. After the interview I was asked to stay till 18:00 to take part in a trial, I was given a few different tasks to complete (shown in the images). 

The image above shows an example of the beginnings of a waist coat. I had to stitch the front pieces together and create two pipped jets.  In traditional tailoring interfacing is not used so to replace this they use a canvas material, this is the method I used to create the jets. I also had to do a lot  of basting (tacking) which I don't normally do at uni however I could definitely see the benefits from basting rather than just using the machine straight away. It was quite challenging doing the jet pockets without any help as I have only ever completed jetted pockets once or twice and that was with the help of my trusty friend YouTube. So as you can imagine completing them on my own while feeling nervous and under pressure was a nerve-racking feeling, I eventually finished the pockets but made a few miner mistakes which meant that there was a little ridge/bump that you could feel around the pockets due to the seams being too small to press open. I attempted the pocket again shown in the image above  (on the left side of the fabric) it was a lot more successful as Ivor showed me some techniques he learnt when training in Savilerow and the methods they use. Although I managed to complete the pocket I definitely need more practise.

During the day I was also given some pattern pieces to experiment with, the pieces were two shapes that were curved and fitted together, all I had to do was sew them together (shown in the image above). Sounds rather right? This is precisely what I was thinking, it turned out to be a lot harder than it looked as sewing around the curves was extremely difficult because the fabric would just get caught and pucker, this wasn't helped by the fact the lining was slightly stretchy as well but I'm just impressed that I even got an end result because this little sample is very deceiving. 

After my trial Ivor spoke to me and said that he is willing to teach me bespoke menswear tailoring and I can start on Monday 14th from 11am to 18:00/19:00, I'm extremely happy as although it was a very nerve-racking day I've learnt more techniques and industry knowledge in one day then I have within a month of uni. I have learnt that there are some things I've been doing and or sewing wrong through listening to Ivor talk about his experiences and through observing how he does things in his studio. 

Bolongaro Trevor

After going through the interview process, I decided to continue to apply for internships through emailing companies I had an interest in, whilst also looking at internships and placement through websites such as fashion Workie and fashion united. I wrote an email to a company that I had a real interest in as they were offering to teach bespoke tailoring using the traditional methods that are used in Savillerow. I thought the placement would be perfect for me and I was hoping for the best. The image on the right shows the response I got, and it was very positive. 

 

Although getting an internship would be the ideal situation as I'd be in a fresh environment getting a real sense of what it would be like to work in a job I truly enjoy, I also started to open up to the idea of doing the live project with Bolongaro Trevor.

 

 

 

 

On Tuesday the 1st of March we had a briefing for the live project, Kait Bolongaro joined us mid morning and stayed for the rest of the day, she spoke about the brand history, and it's origins. Kait Bolongaro then showed us some past and present womenswear collections that the brand have created. The images above show an example of one of the garments Kait brought in to show us. Throughout the day my enthusiasm for the live project began to drop drastically as I found it very difficult to get excited about the project when the style wasn't what I would choose.It is hard to work on a project when you don't agree with the quality of the brand.

Brain storming ideas

I decided that the live project wasn't for me and sent an email back to Ivor Nylander (the potential placement opportunity I had) to try and set a date for an interview. I set a date for Monday (7th March) at 11am I have everything ready from my last interview and this time I feel more prepared as I now know what to expect. It was a difilcult decision but one I think would work better for me.