Looking for zoot suit draft

[TTailor]

I believe this Zoot suit example at LACMA has a pattern available.
Not a draft but a scale drawing I believe. You could interpret that silhouette into an existing draft.

[Gerry]

I believe this Zoot suit example at LACMA has a pattern available.
Not a draft but a scale drawing I believe. You could interpret that silhouette into an existing draft.

Well done Terri! Here is the direct link to the zoot suit pattern:

https://www.lacma.org/sites/default/files/module-uploads/Reigning_Men_Patterns_Zoot_Suit.pdf

And the link to the main page for other historical patterns (what a fantastic resource!):

https://www.lacma.org/patternproject

[Der Zuschneider]

I believe this Zoot suit example at LACMA has a pattern available.
Not a draft but a scale drawing I believe. You could interpret that silhouette into an existing draft.

Well done Terri! Here is the direct link to the zoot suit pattern:

https://www.lacma.org/sites/default/files/module-uploads/Reigning_Men_Patterns_Zoot_Suit.pdf

And the link to the main page for other historical patterns (what a fantastic resource!):

https://www.lacma.org/patternproject

Oh, yeah, some ideas I can use.

I ordered this morning a zoot suit pattern for 20$. Once it is here I can trace it, cut it out, and then find out, how they did it.

[stoo23]

Perhaps that lacma.org stuff should be posted somewhere appropriate, like the Reference section   

[Gerry]

Perhaps that lacma.org stuff should be posted somewhere appropriate, like the Reference section   

Possibly pin it in the Costumers Forum?

[stoo23]

Possibly pin it in the Costumers Forum?

Done 

https://movsd.com/BespokeCutter/index.php/topic,1528.0.html

[Der Zuschneider]

I got my pattern today. When I am ready, I will reengineer the draft to see how they made it.

Some people are so poor they don't even want to spend money for a pattern and try to figure it out the long- and unsuccessful way by looking around in the internet to scrap bits and pieces together, meddling something together in the end that looks like crap.

FCK Stingyness. Find another hobby or just quilt.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/235668377569?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=H71G0RX5Tf6&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=iWtTQJIPRgK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[DrLang]

Some people are so poor they don't even want to spend money for a pattern and try to figure it out the long- and unsuccessful way by looking around in the internet to scrap bits and pieces together, meddling something together in the end that looks like crap.

Isn't that almost always the more expensive way? 

[Gerry]

I got my pattern today. When I am ready, I will reengineer the draft to see how they made it.

Some people are so poor they don't even want to spend money for a pattern and try to figure it out the long- and unsuccessful way by looking around in the internet to scrap bits and pieces together, meddling something together in the end that looks like crap.

FCK Stingyness. Find another hobby or just quilt.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/235668377569?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=H71G0RX5Tf6&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=iWtTQJIPRgK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

There's a lot of snobbery towards sewing patterns, but vintage ones are really useful for research and I have a small collection. People forget that the designers who worked for pattern companies came from industry or copied what was current at the time. Firms like Vogue have even commissioned creations from leading designers over the years. Consequently, there are period or stylistic details in some pattens that would be difficult to replicate struggling on one's own.

I've never made any of the patterns I own, but I've learnt a lot from analysing them. And they're a great way of building up a library of templates for lapels, pockets, fronts etc. Plus they can be sold on later (not that I have - I love owning things that are older than me!). So there really is no point being stingy, as you say.

I also buy vintage items to deconstruct, but that's a whole other ballgame! 

[Greger]

Think it is more fun looking at the style or fashion, which is looking at a number of them, because there are different variations of them. Before mass production it was the rich who could afford fashions. They were almost always the younger people. When I was a boy some middle aged men got sent home to change from the fashion suit they wore to work to put on a business suit. When they got a bit older they were told, "No more fashions." Some of these men went to tailors. Anyway, fashions are on a theme. Each theme has many variations. Only tailors can make the many personal variations. Mass production will make 500,000 or more - that is one variation, which is very limited, then another variation, and so on. When real tailors make fashions there are no copies. Each one is different. One tailor I brought a picture of someone else's pattern to an old tailor because I wanted to ask him a question about an adjustment, any pattern would do. When he saw it was someone else's pattern he became very angry. Art is art. Like the Mona Lisa. Only one person gets to paint it. Since it is already done we don't get to paint it. Same with patterns. Someone else's pattern is only for beginners to help them get started. Look to see how others done their own. Then create your own ever changing methods. There are more than one way to skin a cat. Plus, the customer has their own ideas. Inlays are handy for adding ideas and subtracting ideas and other arrangements. Zoot Suits are emphasized, silly.

[Gerry]

Upcoming exhibition. Wrong side of the pond for me, though I'd love to go. Bound to be some original Zoots on display:

https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/superfine-tailoring-black-style-costume-institute-spring-2025-exhibition