Men's Bespoke Trouser Making Course

Bespoke trouser making is a great garment for training up a machine operator. Often the focus of tailoring is honed one's hand sewing skills and overlooking the skilled artisan that can operate an industrial sewing machine.

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Rory added his trouser making course to his growing list of online video series where students can learn to hone their machine sewing skills before attempting the coat making course.

There is nothing more satisfying than making one’s own clothes. All the suits that are found in Rory's wardrobe were made by him. When people ask, “Did you make that?” Rory's usual response is, “I wouldn't wear anything less”. 

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The trouser making course is a great course and garment to start with. Someone who makes good use of their sewing machine can learn the process in a few short weeks. Rory picked up his skills of trouser making on Berwick Street from a trouser maker who serviced Savile Row. After only eight days of lessons spread over a two month period, Rory was making trousers with some of the most famed Mayfair tailors. 

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Rory did have some experience before picking up this skill. He was a skilled presser, could sew in a straight line and use a needle and thimble correctly. Some of the most basic tailoring skills will turn any novice into a professional in no time at all. This is one of the reasons that trouser making is an ideal course for a video series. Rory packed the whole process into twenty-eight videos – compare that to the seventy-plus videos needed for the coat.

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The first garments Rory made when he joined Henry Poole in July 2006 was a three-piece suit. Though he made the waistcoat and trousers alone, his master Paul Frearson guided his hand constantly when it came to the coat. By the Christmas party that year, Rory was as well dressed as any tailor there and he was hooked. Before long, Rory was turning out more garments for himself. Brace-top trousers that reached well over his navel to which the tailors would jokingly ask, “What chest are those trousers?”.

Once the basic style is learned, any design can be made. Rory even managed to offer two styles in one series. Men’s Bespoke Trouser Making - Belt loop Style also includes the details needed to make brace-top trousers with side-straps and brace buttons.

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Such positive experiences need to be shared and what better way than through a video series. As well as learning about trouser making, Rory explains how to cut and fit them too. Templates which are passed from master to apprentice are available to download as well as the notes to the drafting system themselves. Rory recognises the need for a more extensive course on trouser drafting as each figuration requires a slightly different variation of the system and thus he decided to add the straight leg style as this would cover most figure types. There is also a want for a more traditional style of trouser making and The HTA has plans to add a second series that includes Rory's signature brace-top, half-band style with straight pockets and button fly (Scheduled to be released summer 2021).

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Rory is possibly one of the first tailors to identify five different leg figurations and offer a drafting system for each one. No other book in The HTA’s extensive library covers drafting for different leg type as our book Pattern Drafting for Bespoke Menswear, the Imperial System. Many cutters Rory has known throughout his career has used only one system to cut for a multitude of figures. It is little wonder then when tailors and stylists are sharing examples of their trousers on social media that they always fail to show the back of them. If they did, it would quickly be discovered that they never actually fit properly. Even Savile Row tailors struggle to get a clean fitting seat in their trousers, as the information available to them is the same books available everywhere else.

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When we think of fitting trousers, it’s not the topsides we need to concern ourselves with but the undersides. It’s here that tells the story as to whether trousers fit or not. The centre crease has nothing to do with the fit, only the weight and quality of the cloth.

 

There is a technique to using a sewing machine which must be learned and mastered before one can learn trouser making. Much like driving a car, one doesn’t jump in the driver’s seat and take off. Holding the car steady on the road is likened to sewing in a straight and consistent line.​ One’s eyes are drawn to the bobbing needle rather than the foot which sets the depth of the seam and ensures its consistency. Since the treadle machine was made obsolete, trouser making has evolved to almost an entirely machine-made garment.

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All the main details such as pockets, straight seams and fly are sewn by machine.

 The process of trouser making is a third of that of the coat and is, therefore, an excellent garment for the student to hone their machine handling skills.

 

With such a comprehensive trouser making video series supported by a trimming package from Dugdale Brothers, you too could be making your own trousers in no time at all.