Fit is important to good tailoring. Tailors use both padding (ie shoulder pads) and ironwork to sculpt the fabric into a pleasing shape.
How do these two factors interact?
Wall of text, followed by concrete questions, and also by some personal context in case you have insight into what specifically I'm doing.
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My assumption is that patterns for tailors are deliberately "wrong", because the work of the iron will "correct" them into shape. If I made a muslin of a tailor's pattern out of, say, cotton - it wouldn't fit me. And if I used a home-sewer's jacket pattern, and attempted it to stretch/shrink it, it would come out wrong. Is this correct?
Or is shaping which distorts the pattern bad shaping?
I'm imagining the stretch which you put into the front shoulder. My instinct is that this will move where the shoulder point is, changing the curve of the armscye. But maybe the goal is thst the shoulder point and neck point stay unchanged, and the stretching of the fabric merely adds more length between them without distorting the shape? You could lie the fabric front on top of the pattern, and neatly sit the neck point and shoulder point correctly oriented, with the armscye and collar line sat flat, with a new ripple of fabric between the two points.
But what about the stretching in the side seams? Does this imply the paper pattern ought to draft those a little short, so they can be stretched into their correct shape? Or is this stretching primarily in the seam allowance/inlay, to allow the seam to lie more elegantly: the length on the finished suit would still match the paper pattern?
And what about shoulder pads? If I put pads into any old garment in progress, that presumably makes the underarm tighter, maybe causes wrinkles down towards the navel because the whole fronts have moved up. So - am I to assume that jacket patterns with shoulder pads are drafted with that extra in mind? In the videos I watched, adding shoulder pads seemed to be more of a "sketched" addition, the tailor trying a couple of different sizes before settling on the right one for his client. That would imply that after he sets that shoulder pad, he would adjust the scye to fit again?
I think my idea that a pattern is drafted with its construction in mind came from Hulme.
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Ok, summary of questions:
1. Are patterns designed for ironwork drafted differently from others?
a) if so, does anyone have any kind of resource explaining the principles of this? I expect one hasn't been written, but asking on the off chance.
2. To what extent is ironwork part of fit? If I do a fitting trial in cheap fabric, and then use the iron on my real garment will it:
a) no longer fit
b) fit key body landmarks the same way it did in the trial, but with a bit more elegance, shaping & finess
3. Does ironwork change the underlying outline of a pattern piece, or just add more fullness to the middle of the fabric?
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Context:
I'm a fairly experienced sewer, this is my first time tailoring. I'm using Cabrera, plus the Victorian Tailor, Couture Sewing Secrets, a video series, and odds and sods saved from this & the other forum.
The suit is for me, but the complication is that I am a transgender man (female to male). Hence the interest in learning to do my own fitting and tailoring. What this means in practical terms is, my bone structure is very similar to that of women, but my muscle/fat distribution closer to that of men. Also that it isn't consistent: some bits of the body masculinise faster than others, some bits never do.
I've generally found that starting with a woman's pattern, and then using fitting skills to adapt it to my shape, is the most effective strategy. But im also interested in working some stuff out from first principles, as my body is actively changing & what works now might not always be true; and im also interested in writing & sharing information for other trans sewers in future. Knowing why & how a thing is done the way it is done, makes it a lot easier to apply things to my situation in a way which achieves the same outcome.
I'm a little concerned that, unlike a shirt where it's quite easy to combine feminine fit with masculine fabrics and design features, an actual suit jacket has a lot of noodly construction stuff going on; and where there are considerable differences between the male and female garment.
I'm worried that my usual trick of drafting, and then fitting it, won't work: ill accidentally remove or add "inaccuracies" which are supposed to be there, because they are adjusted at the ironing stage.
So an additional question might be:
Do you have any resources for a woman's tailored suit draft, which is designed to be shaped and manipulated similar to mens tailoring? Or for adolescent/teenage men, or even younger? So long as they are designed to be constructed like a traditional suit, either of those will get me to a closer starting point for study.
(Preemptive disclaimer that I know tackling fit, drafting, jackets, and construction ironing are all advanced skills & I do not anticipate my first (or fourth) bash at this will come out well; but it's only through practice that i can hope to improve at it)
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Cheers for any pointers!
