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The edge of a raw piece of cloth with the manufacturer's name and cloth information is called the spoken selvage (or selvedge). If the long seam of a shirt sleeve and the side seam of the body of a shirt join precisely at the underarm, the sleeve was attached to the body by machine and then sewn that entire length. If they do not line up, the sleeve and body were crafted separately, then joined, a process that allows for a smaller armhole and more fitted appearance. Only the most expensive shirtmakers use the latter method. When converting cloth weights between grams and ounces, use a factor of 31. That is, a midweight fabric that weighs 9 ounces per square yard weighs about 280 grams per square meter. S-numbers mean less and less these days. (And it is not the same as thread count in your sheets; not even close.) It is basically an indirect way of measuring yarn fineness. Stand by for a more thorough explanation of this in a coming article. The bottom buttonhole on the front placket of many expensive shirts is horizontal. This supposedly functions to keep the two breasts of the shirt from shifting up and down by any fraction of an inch, mis-aligning any pattern along the placket. Or it allows for an extra quarter-inch of movement around the seat of the shirt. Or it is a simple flourish, there for no reason at all. On some trousers there is a small loop protruding from just below the waistband closure. Slip the prong of your belt buckle through that loop to keep your belt from shifting during the day. European jacket sizing is easy to convert to American sizing, but few people know how it is figured. Jackets and tops are sized by one-half of the chest measurement, in centimeters. Thus, an American size 42 jacket (42 inches chest circumference) roughly equates to a European size 52 (104 centimeter chest circumference / 2 = 52.) European trouser sizing is also easy to convert, but it's based on a different measurement. A size 54 trouser means that the seat (not waist) measurement is 108 centimeters. Divided by 2 = 54. The waist measurement depends on the 'drop' of the sizing. Drop is the difference between the chest measurement and the waist measurement. In inches, this means a size 40 drop 6 suit will come with 34" waist trousers. The European system is similar. A size 50 drop 7 will come with 50cm - 7cm = 43cm x 2 (see European jacket sizing, above) = 86cm / 2.54 cm per inch = about a 34 inch waist. The white cotton thread that runs along the shoulder seam of many new suits is intended to firmly connect the collar and the top of the armhole for the garment's shelf life on a hanger before it is sold. Sometimes a jacket can spend years on a hanger in a store, and this thread helps the shoulders keep a new, crisp appearance. If the thread is loose and the jacket does not cost upwards of $1000, it was likely added as an afterthought to somehow make it look more expensive. The flourish of thread now often seen zig-zagging across pockets and buttonholes on garments in stores is basically for show, to give the illusion of hand-tailoring. In theory it's there because during the tailoring process you don't want any of these pieces to shift, throwing some other part off. |
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content throughout this site, unless otherwise noted, is written by and copyright © 2007 j. d. erickson |