Making Acquaintance
Since this is the general discussion area, just wanted to introduce myself, as my hope is to make some good acquaintances via the forum. It’s always good to have others to share stories with, trade notes, and learn from others.
I have only been making garments for a couple of years now (I just turned 49 in November, so it was a fairly late start). I actually started originally with costumes. Unable to find a particular costume I was pleased with (I had initially ordered one, and although the construction was top notch, I was extremely disappointed with the details, and the lines of the it not running where they should, etc. So with zero experience (I had never even touched a sewing machine), I set out to make a better one. I completely self patterned it, transferring life long artistic skills from 2d to 3D, watched what felt like thousands of videos and read nearly as many blogs, and with a little help from my wife, created a very complicated costume (the trousers alone were made up of over 20 parts). And that was it, I was bitten by the bug.
After making a few others (mostly using altered, existing patterns), I suddenly one day decided that since I had always wanted a nice dressing gown, I would make one for myself. Again, using existing patterns with slight alterations, and being unable to decide between to different fabrics, I made myself two. After posting the finished results in a FB group, I was commissioned by a gentleman in Australia to make him a dressing gown. Since he was a a larger size and build, I finally turned to actual pattern drafting. Since he was on an entirely different, far away continent, I worked with making a muslin mockup, and numerous photos in different poses from many angles to then adapt the patterns to fit. Using techniques from Rory’s prior YouTube video series, I did the majority of this one using hand stitching, allowing me to produce a garment of quality like nothing I had previously done. The customer was so elated with the final garment, which naturally elated me as well. (The photo doesn’t do it justice, it is a 52 on 40 dress form)
For me, however, the ultimate is to be able to create and hand make a fine suit in the Savile Row tradition. I am confident with Rory’s excellent instruction that I can make this dream a reality.
I look forward to sharing stories and experiences with others in this forum, and hopefully making new acquaintances!
Devin Caster
@Devin Caster Thanks for the extra pics. All very interesting. I think in particular the second costume seems like it might have some relevance to this forum. I never tried costuming myself. I came to tailoring through trying to do my own alterations, and it grew from there.
Just for interest's sake, I have here a couple of pictures of an old German draft for a men's dressing gown. It's from 'Der Zuschnitt fur die Damenschneiderei', which is actually a book of women's tailoring, but they include a few trivial men's garments in the volume which is dedicated to blouses, gowns, and undergarments. I haven't translated them yet, but thought you might find them interesting.