Tailoring Class

I'm a banker by trade who wants to be a Tailor. I know how to sew from store bought patterns however, would like to learn how to make custom suits using the finest material - using my own pattern. Can anyone tell me where I can go to learn the trade? I'm in Chicago.

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jr
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Melinda Meahan - take out TRAS

Basically there are two options. One is to find a local college, university or fashion school that offers courses in tailoring. The other and some might say "better" option is to find a quality tailor or shop looking for an apprentice, and "learn while you earn". In many urban areas there is a dearth of people seeking to enter the trade as everyone wants to be a stockbroker or some other high paying job. This means that many tailors have no one to take over their business if/when they retire, especially if they do not have children or those children choose to pursue other careers.

Candide

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Candide

"> I'm a banker by trade who wants to be a Tailor. I know how to sew from

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has Two internet classes"Gentlemen's Bespoke Tailoring"
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If you take the class buy the kit.

This class takes along time, but it is real tailoring (some Universities don't even know what real tailoring is, so you can only imagine what there tailoring classes are).

They will give you a pattern formula for making a coat, trousers and vest. Later they will show you how to adapt these for other garments.

Most of the class construction comes from this book, but not all. The vest is made different. Classic Tailoring Techniques: A Construction Guide for Men's Wear (F.I.T. Collection) by Roberto Cabrera, Patricia Flaherty Meyers I stuck with the class, just incase the class lessons went different.

Just finished the class after more than 2 1/2 years. Some was my fault, sending in lessons a couple of weeks late. They have alot of students, more than they thought they would have, so their lessons are sometimes three weeks late. If you take the class-room class (60% failure rate (I think the class moves along to fast for most students)) it is done in a few weeks. The internet method is the safer way to get your moneys worth. Although, seeing demostrations and haveing an instructor to actually talk to would have been nice.

When finished making the jacket - I like what I see. It brought back many memories of my early childhood. My Granddad was a firm believer that the time to learn the trade is before turning six (six and older the hands are no good for learning) (nowadays, Tailor & Cutter will teach anybody- there are so few real tailors). Even after six he would have taught me, but it never worked out. One of my uncles would go to "tailors"- believe me there are alot of people who have gone throught this world as something they weren't. In one glance looking at my uncles "tailored" clothes and my Granddads you could see the fake tailored and the real. While in the world or real tailoring, where there are many methods, Tailor & Cutter will get you started into the real world of true tailoring. While I have read several books, and they all have some good advice, Tailor & Cutter is by far closer to what I learned from my Granddad who wore the best clothes I've ever seen.

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"Cutting For Gentlemen"

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This is actually the continuation about patterns, fitting, measuring, and a few more garments. I wouldn't mind going to Jolly Old England to take the class-room class, but I think I will stick with their internet class.

Wish you luck in your decisions and classes.

John

Reply to
A

Being a former Director of a fashion design program at a major university, I'm sorry to say that most fashion design programs not only don't teach menswear anything, much less men's tailoring, but couldn't find teachers to teach it if they did. If you're in the States, you might consider finding a local tailor who would be willing to take you on as an apprentice. The process is quite different than working with women's wear tailoring and patterns. There is a lot of handwork and basting involved, which I surmise from your post is what you want to learn.

In the twenty years that I taught, I had only a handful of male students who wanted to learn tailoring. I did my best to accommodate them, but I wished that I had a real menswear tailor to whom I could have referred them.

Teri

Reply to
gpjones2938

Your right about there being a lack of tailors. Seattle has one working tailor (does work for Michael's Bespoke Tailors), and it is not the guy Bill Gates goes to; Bill Gates clothes are poorly MTM. I believe Texas has a university that has a tailoring class- some guy at Ask Andy Forum has taken the class and wrote a little about it when asking a Savile Row tailor some questions. About the only place to learn the trade by working in it is Savile Row (London, England), or Italy. MTM is not Tailored. MTM is the top of RTW, the only difference is you get to choose the cloth and the pattern is altered before it is cut, but then it goes through the same line with as RTW. CTDA (Custom Tailors & Designers Association) is basically a MTM organization; not sure there are any tailors among them, anymore. Whereas, Tailored is completely hand made and use a sewing machine for some sewing and a serger for keeping the edges from fraying (it was the 1920's when the tailors finally accepted the sewing machine, though a few tailors used it sooner). It is amazing how many old tailors went through Tailor And Cutter- it is like the door in.

About the only place to buy cloth and trimmings is England. The US has just about nothing, anymore. Some tailor trimmings supply companies in the US don't have all the trimmings needed for true tailored, nor do some of them even know what is needed. Seattle used to have 3 cloth merchants and 20-40 trimming houses, now the closes trimming house is the bay area of SF, or maybe LA. This is an interesting site-

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A

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