Bespoke Cutter And Tailor

There is a measure that I think would be handy. It's called the strap measure. It is from the nape down to the chest level at the vertical line of  the scye. This measure shows if the that distance is correct, short or long. It is a check measure. It can be used for pattern making, too. In American patterns it is used with the blade measurement. From center back level across to the bottom strap measure point. I think these two measurements would help find problems. A couple of worthy "tools".
To get rid of some of the excess width in back the shoulder slope, armhole shape can be adjusted.

How many tailors never used a machine to sew? Hand sewing allows for better manipulation than machines. There are machine methods and some people are really good at them. Easing a longer layer on a shorter layer by hand is stitch by stitch control. Basting and shrinking and then machine sewing is another. You can get some shape doing it these ways. But if you hand it to a laundromat what are they going to do with it? Press it flat?

So here's the problem with machine methods:

DPC shows how to do a stretched seam for cuffs, basically you grab & tug one layer of the cuff as you sew, stretching it which results in an inner and outer cylinder which don't ripple. I don't rate his method, I find you need to change the order of steps to get a neat finish, but I do credit him with learning the technique.

But collars are like...cut on the vertical and horizontal of the fabric. Whereas collars usually have some lines and curves which cross the bias. So if you try and use machine stretched seams as he advises, you actually stretch the whole point in all sorts of ways which won't lie flat again - not just stretch on the seam, but the whole collar comes out of shape. At least, that's what happens when I do it.

I tried pad-stitch-basting the collar layers together and then machine stitching, but this didn't work - in other words, the stretch/curve/whatever needs to be placed *exactly* on the line of sewing. So my next variant is going to try that. 

In one sense, it's good to be learning through experimentation, but it's frustrating too sometimes *sigh*

Fusibles are obviously not period correct, but if you're not worried about that, then DHJ 160 Fusetop is a good option - for maximum stiffness, you can use two layers.

See, I've been wondering about that. The (online) research I've done has revealed some collars were made out of paper, rubber, or a paper backed onto linen called linene. Obviously, getting "real" linene won't be possible nowadays, but I feel like linen + fusible interfacing is, to my intuition at least, a fairly close replica of what linene would be like. Some kind of fabric+ some kind of papery substance, bonded together.

 
 

You can use a light tropic weight body canvas which is hidden by the facings. If you use pocketing it is generally made from Silesia. I would suggest if you are not cutting the darts open to pick stitch the dart seam to keep it folded back and is something you'll see on Neapolitan coats.

You don't have to cut the darts open. Just press without cutting!
It can leave an impression on the garment face if not careful though