POSTS IN CATEGORY 'Tailoring'

For the recent Paris press tour of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Tom Holland wore a shot mohair suit made for him at Anderson & Sheppard and styled by Crystalle Cox. The photographs of him at...

When a pair of trousers is finished, a customer notices the cloth, the line of the leg and the way the pleat falls. What they rarely notice are the decisions hidden inside the garment. Those are the d...

Morning dress has been the one of the most regular conversations at 32 Old Burlington Street this spring. Royal Ascot is not far off; weddings have been steady since Easter; and the front shop sees a ...

My name is Wren and I am in the third year of my trouser making apprenticeship with Anderson and Sheppard. I work under my brother Finnan who has been with the company for over 10 years. At the start ...

ABC Awards has worked closely with Su Thomas, Manager of the Savile Row Bespoke Association and UKFT to develop an exciting new national qualification for the fashion and textiles industry.The Level 5...

We are extremely proud to be part of the current exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, “Items: Is Fashion Modern?”. The exhibition explores the present, past—and sometime...

I am very happy to announce that last week Finnan and I gained our Savile Row Bespoke Diplomas.I had to make a portfolio and then I had to present four garments to be marked at Henry Poole. That inclu...

Jennie and I have been working on a navy blue velvet smoking jacket cut by Leslie Haynes,  it has been really fun to work on the jacket for this project.I always get excited when Craft Week comes...

Last night was the bi annual golden shears event at the Merchant Taylor's Hall. After being with Anderson and Sheppard for 4 years I felt it was the right time for me to enter the competition.I was lu...

During the week I spend so much time working on mens jackets and get so used to a certain style and size job that working on a womens jacket seemed completely alien to me. I've wanted to make myself a...

Over the course of my apprenticeship I've worked on countless men's garments of all shapes and sizes. The way we approach each garment varies depending on the cloth, size, shape and style.Also in that...

My mentor Jennie and I visited the Abraham Moon & Sons mill last Monday. I had used their cloth to make the tweed jacket I displayed at the Dumfries House Wool conference earlier this year in Septembe...

I am happy to say that I have recently  completed my apprenticeship. The last year has basically felt like a trial run leading up to this point, gaining experience and confidence in my work. So I...

I am delighted to say that last month I finished my trouser making apprenticeship at Anderson & Sheppard and I am now a fully qualified trouser maker. Before I started my apprenticeship as a trouser m...

I am currently making a pair of tartan check trousers from cloth that was cut at the bespoke shop.I sewed the cloth into two separate trouser legs. I then go on to press them but because this par...

When a job comes down to the workroom the first thing we do is look over the ticket. From time to time a customer might request a special detail on their jacket, such as turn back cuffs. Although turn...

Looking at previous blog posts it appears that we have no information on the side seams. This is probably because it is not as photogenic as some of the other processes however it is just as important...

When the jackets come back from the fitting, it is our job as the coat makers to give shape to the fronts.The tools used for this job and in general on any stage of the making process should be chosen...

Over the past few months I've had the opportunity to learn a wide range of new techniques. Jennie, my teacher works on a lot of specialist formal wear and I've been lucky enough to be able to assist h...

One of my favourite fabrics to work with is linen; its firm almost tacky texture makes it easy to manipulate and mould. Although it can be tricky at times, particularly when the weave is loose.This pa...

It has been almost a year since I started my training as a trouser maker, and I can definitely say it has been a fast, fun year.  I have learnt so much from Keith and it has been great working wi...

I am currently canvasing a Seersucker cloth for a standard single breasted jacket. The thin all cotton furrowed fabric is woven in such a way that causes the threads to bunch up, giving it its wrinkle...

When a job comes down to the workroom wrapped in a bundle, there is a small amount of cloth left inside. This spare piece of cloth is what we use to cut the 'fit ups'. These are all the components nee...

During the last few months I've been learning how to make the different types of fittings. I began by learning how to close the shoulders of the jacket and distributing the fullness evenly. After the ...

Now the bulk of the work has been completed we were finally able to move into the new workroom on St George Street. We packed all our stuff up and moved the pressing machines and all our equipment ove...

Keith and Michael went to visit our new workrooms in St George Street this afternoon to see how things were progressing.  We will be moving in over the weekend which is very exciting.  There...

One of the delights of working in a busy workroom such as the Anderson and Sheppard Academy here on Fouberts Place is that as we are training we get the opportunity to see and work on a wide variety o...

I have been an apprentice for 2 years now and it is time for me to begin to learn how to finish a jacket.  This includes working on the collar and putting in the sleeves.  These two processe...

We were successful in our search for a new member of the Trouser Department and Matthew joined us at the end of last year.  I have spent most of January introducing Matthew to the way that we wor...

The first job we do when starting a jacket is to put the pockets in. Once they're made up I turn to the canvas. At Anderson & Sheppard we are known for our softness in the coat, and to achieve this we...

In recent months I’ve been busy making a couple of extra trousers for my suits. Not only has it been really good practice, but it’s allowed me to try something different with the style. I ...

After studying at the London College of Fashion I came to Anderson & Sheppard for a day on work experience. I really enjoyed it and thanks to a well chosen packet of biscuits (well it helped) I was lu...

The Blazer as we know it today has a naval connection having been named after the Captain of HMS Blazer (c.1845) dressed his crew in jackets of blue and white stripes. The term ‘Blazer’ to...

It’s been 1 ½ years since I started my coat making apprenticeship. Having undergone work experience at the main shop at 32 Old Burlington Street, I had been working with David Walters on ...

The year before last I took part in the Golden Shears. It was a great experience and I really enjoyed doing it. When the opportunity came to work on gaining a Coat making Diploma, I thought it would b...

We often have a collection of spare collars here in the workshop. They tend to be the result of a customer changing his mind on something, for example wanting an extension collar on a tweed jacket bec...

I’ve been an apprentice at Anderson & Sheppard for nine months now – though I was doing work experience here while at Newham College as well, in the trimmings department.Before Newham I di...

The collar stand that a particular customer has varies with the length of his neck. It can range from an inch to an inch and a half, depending on what best suits his proportions.You would think that r...

Learning how to sew on a button is one of the first things you’re taught when you join Anderson & Sheppard as an apprentice. I was taught within the first couple of days, but it’s a job I&...

I put together the chest of my second coat today. The first one was a few weeks ago – the people here chop and change the jobs they do day-to-day, no one just does one task, so I’ve been w...

I’ve gradually been mastering the sewing on of a collar, ready for a fitting, over the past few weeks. Overall, the making of a fitting (such as the basting shown above) had improved to the stag...

Men today wear fewer and fewer suits in the office, and I can understand that this could make bespoke tailoring seem less relevant. But the value is just as great in having an odd jacket made and wear...

On a new pair of trousers I made recently – to wear at the Golden Shears – I introduced a little design element I saw on a pair of customer’s trousers. It’s an extended crossov...

In a previous post I talked about the difference between the dry iron I use for most work and the steam iron outside with the vacuum table. I thought it would be interesting to mention more ways the d...

I usually use the dry iron on my bench for pressing the parts of the jacket I’m working on, but occasionally I will use the vacuum table outside (pictured here).A dry iron, as the name implies, ...

I’ll press a suit when it comes back from having an alteration, or before a client tries it on if it’s been on the rail for a while. You always start with the inside first and then do the ...

When a coat comes down to me to put together, ready for a forward fitting, I need to baste the cloth, canvas and other parts together as well as sew other seams permanently. On the front section of a ...

One of the first things I had to learn was cutting and arranging all the extra parts of the coat that aren’t cut upstairs – the pockets, the lining and the flaps. It’s called fixing ...

I’ve just finished basting a coat for a fitting. The last part was attaching the collar, which is just the backing of canvas and melton at this point. I cut them both out using a cardboard patte...

The first thing you need to learn if you’re going to work as a tailor is how to use the thimble. It goes on your middle finger and pushes through the needle that’s being held in your thumb...

I suppose I’ve been interested in working with my hands my whole life. My mother and father pushed us to be creative when we were children. We had a huge table full of coloured paints, threads, ...

When I get a suit down to put together, one of the first things I have to do is assemble the various parts of the canvas. The canvas that we put in our coats is made up of three different parts: hairc...