Linen suit experiment

There is a very nice couple in town that I take ALL of my alterations to. They do great work and are obscenely cheap. He kept telling me that he would love to make me a suit. I have explained to him in the past that my tastes go towards the 30s-40s era suits and that I was afraid they may be too different from the standard suits he makes. He asked me to bring him photos of what exactly I was talking about and he would decide if he could make that style or not. Last week I came into his shop in a lightweight wool suit absolutely drenched in sweat. (It's 90+ with 60-80% humidity) He demanded that he make me a linen suit. My experience with Korean tailors has not been the best. When I was a young soldier here, I didn't know anything about suits and they took me for a ride. This time around, my tastes and knowledge has evolved. But I am still leery of the quality of work here.

So I took him a few photos of linen suits with the details I was looking for. Pleated patch pockets, fishtail pants, belted and pleated back etc. Much to my surprise he and his wife were extremely excited to attempt the suit. They assured me they could do it and they were genuinely excited to try it. The best part was the price....$160. Even if the suit is not good, I'm not out much money....and if it IS good, i've got a huge amount of suits for him to make.

He immediately measured me and told me to come by his shop in exactly 1 week from that day for a 1st fitting. I stopped in 3 days later to drop off a Magnoli for alterations and he dragged me into the back room. He already had the linen suit ready for a 1st fitting.

It's hard to make an accurate determination of the suit, based off of the garment at that stage of the process, but it appeared he nailed it. The only issue I believe will be the width of the trouser legs. But the jacket looked good and fit well.

As soon as I get the suit, I will post photos for criticism. Like I said, I'm not expecting a perfect reproduction from a tailor who has no experience with Golden Era clothing. But for a custom linen suit at $160 it can't hurt to try.

Loking forward eagerly to pics...

If this works out, he may get a whole pile of new orders from this gang, if he's interested.

Sounds good. The trouser width can often be a difficult thing to convince contemporary tailors of, I gather.

Interesting project. I had a great Korean seamstress in Indiana, but she wasn't confident enough to make menswear; she just did alterations for men, but the custom prom gowns and wedding dresses she made were really stunning.

I'm keen to see what your chap can do.

bk

This gentleman definitely makes suits. He gets quite a bit of business from the military crowd. His clientele is generally 20 somethings looking for a modern 2 or 3 button suit. When I showed him the pictures it seemed to light a spark in him. Like there was a tortured artist dying to get out. I asked about his process....there was obvious language difficulties. From what I could gather he said that he is the "cutter" and he has a couple of guys that do the sewing. I asked him how he would go about this project and he said that he would make a new pattern for the suit based off the photos. Again that isn't much to go on....my Korean is strictly for getting to point A and B and ordering food in restaurants and his English, while good, is lacking.

My main concern with him is his selection of fabrics...or lack there of. It seems to me that the tailors here keep their costs low by using lower quality fabric or even synthetic blends. I'm not experienced enough with fabrics to be able to accurately determine the blend or whether or not the fabric is as he describes. I have asked him in the past "Is this super 120's or 140's?" I got a blank stare and a response of "Real wool!" "Can you show me your twills?" "Real wool!" I've dealt with several tailors here, in the past. This gentleman is by far the most honest I have dealt with. It could be he isn't entirely sure of the material or he doesn't know how to convey the material in English.

I am thinking of buying fabric online and bringing it to him to make suits. Also, this area is considered to be the textile capital of Korea. My Korean co-workers have told me about a large market that deals in fabrics. Sometime soon I'm planning on finding this mysterious market and seeing what they have available. My expectations aren't too high as the current trend in Korean culture are "shiny suits". I'm expecting a wide variety of suiting fabric that looks like chrome.

I imagine he will be done today or tommorrow. We'll see how my gamble pays off.

I'm interested for you guys to see the construction of the suit so that I can ask for improvements on the next suit...if I have him do more.

Lovely Linen

http://asuitablewardrobe.dynend.com/2010/06/linen-time.html

If you want a minimum of crease but plenty of rumpled drape buy 14 oz linen. But regular 8-10 oz will also suit - but nothing lighter than that mate. Buy Irish rather than Italian too.

W Bill is the best supplier of Irish linen: http://www.wbill.co.uk/

http://permanentstyle.blogspot.com/2010/07/history-of-w-bill.html

"The Duke of Windsor's Suit"

That is a tasty suit. You can't argue with the Duke of Windsor.

Nothing today. I stopped in for a fitting. At the same time I had him attempt the linen, I had him make me a modern khaki cotton suit. He said the linen suit might be done tomorrow. He pointed me to a man in the back room feverishly sewing the linen suit. Couldn't see much though.

Well ladies and gentlemen, my grand experiment was a grand failure. The suit is B A D. The pleating around the belted back is not pleating. The center pleat won't stay shut. The arm holes are big enough to drive a truck through. I specifically made him measure for smaller arm holes. They are double the size of my Magnoli arm holes. Somehow the entire suit makes me look fat. I am a tall slim man and the suit is NOT flattering.

So I'm out $160....

I suspect adjustment will fix most of that - don't despair! What linen is that? Maybe you should have used your Magnoli suit for sizing.

I don't think sizing will fix it. I thought I had explained things well enough to him. After I got the suit home I realized how bad it was. I had him copying a J Crew cotton suit and thought "Oh no". So I ran back and told him what armhole size I wanted. He looked at me like I was nuts. I gave him the size arm holes I use on my Magnoli's which was what I told him the first time. We'll see if he does it. Seems it's impossible to convince tailors to make smaller armholes and shorter sleeves. They all want sleeves to be long. Why is that?

That's not a terrible suit my friend. Besides it's the thought that counts isn't it? As far as arm length is concerned, the proper length feels and looks too short when in movement. I prefer longer cuffs as well.

cookie said:

I suspect adjustment will fix most of that - don't despair! What linen is that? Maybe you should have used your Magnoli suit for sizing.

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I took a jacket in to my seamstress the other day; the sleeves extended almost to the third knuckle of my thumb. She actually said it looked fine, as she prefers longer sleeves.

She does great work. But at that moment, I almost considered leaving her shop and never returning.

The third knuckle of my thumb. I don't know how any self-respecting tailor could be ok with that.

Maybe I'm just too used to the sheer expense of buying clothing here in the UK, but I reckon that, for the equivalent of a little over GBP100, this is far from a failure.

This is a first effort at a cheap suit that fits. If you can get the armholes, back pleat and seat of the trousers right on the second one (sleeve length is so easy to fix it's hardly worth mentioning), you've got yourself a real bargain. Also consider giving the lapels a more refined shape. There's quite a few jacket threads here: search for "Palm Beach", etc.

You are also not helping yourself by not wearing a tie and not getting the braces adjusted. PM Orgetorix and get his take (a professional) on what's needed. The front and shoulders look well made. The back needs work and the pants are also okay.

Let's look to positives. The tailor seems to have got the shoulders reasonably close to the right size, and the length of the jacket is about right. The lapel is, I think, relatively close in dimensions to a mid-1930s SB notch. Arm length is an easy fix.

As others have said, I think a lot of the issues can be corrected through alteration. First, close up that damn vent. It is doing more than any other single feature to make this suit look like it's from the 1970s. The box pleat is doing what closed box pleats do when no adjustment has been made to the back panel cutting to accommodate. TailorTom can tell you more, but i'd say this is probably a write off. I'd close it and chalk it down to experience. there's more to making a belt back jacket than stitching a narrow strip of fabric across the back waist! [huh]

The trousers are a write off, unfortunately. There's more to constructing a fishtail back than sticking some extra fabric on top of a modern pattern.[huh]

Too bad, i'd hoped you'd get the suit you wanted. I have similar trouble, though I have now found a man who will make me trousers the way I want them, and cheap to boot. Need to find someone for jackets now. Bennyholiday's tailor remains the best example to date of vintage reproductions.

bk

Baron Kurtz said:

Need to find someone for jackets now. Bennyholiday's tailor remains the best example to date of vintage reproductions.

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I second that observation from a recent view of a Benny Holiday suit in da flesh...

My, what unusual thumbs you have!

S_M_Cumberworth said:

The third knuckle of my thumb.

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If you start counting where the digit connects to the hand, every finger BUT the thumb has two additional joints. Thumbs only have one, that's what makes them special. I can imagine the first knuckle (where the thumb attaches to the hand) and the second knuckle (the only other joint on the thumb), but I am mystified as to the location of the third one.

Could you clarify?

Yes, I was also wondering where the extra phalange came from. Does your big toe have the same architecture?

cookie said:

I second that observation from a recent view of a Benny Holiday suit in da flesh...

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I would love to see some of these jackets "in person". They look the part; I'd really like to see if the construction is the same. Obviously there are multiple ways to skin a cat and I'd like to see how his tailor does it.

bk

bk