Saturday, January 13, 2007

Menswear

The Pilot is off to Europe next month for a week as part of his current training. We'll leave the envy out of this post (or at least try to, anyway). While he doesn't need a suit, he would like a blazer to go with his trousers. The double breasted ones from his existing suits, he feels, are too dressy. So, we went shopping and came home very empty handed. The last time he needed something like this, it was his formal uniform, which is always custom made anyway. Today's shopping trip ended up being a futile exercise. If it wasn't too tight in the shoulders, it was way too big around the lower torso. He looked almost like he was wearing a sack. So, we will try on his suits and hopefully they still fit in the upper body.

Diva els wrote of a vintage Simplicity book on sewing menswear recently. I found a copy on eBay, but I am wondering if this book is what I need to solve this problem. He is an inverted V in his body shape. How do you fit that so that there is room above but not too much below? I took a look at some Vogue patterns and found this pattern. It appears to have a nice stance and some shaping to it. I also like the fact that there are pants there as well. Who knows, now that I have my own pants pretty well fit, maybe I can tear more hair out fitting him in one! But first I would have to actually get him that promised shirt!

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:00 pm

    Uh oh, a jacket, eh? Oh Darrrelllll....http://darrellthomas.com/ .... Oh Wool House ....

    You're very, very lucky to have the custom uniform to work from and I'd recommend doing a rub-off (remember that tip by Georgene at PR? http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/review/readreview.pl?ID=83 ) and compare that to any commercial pattern. I wish my plate wasn't so full: we could do a Jacket Sew Off! It would be my first, too. I do recommend the book, it applies to woemn's jackets too, and as Els said, very clear and inclusive.

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  2. Lorna, as soon as people are used to custom made it is very difficult to find clothes which are made RTW. Because of the different fit. Its like we are spoiled by a good fit and never want to wear less. So the only thing to do, order from a tailor or make it yourself.

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