Ever wondered how London was Shrunk?

[Thom Bennett]

I often wondered how they used to do London Shrunk cloth and, is it still worth it today as I can find few examples of this type of finish available. I always slowly pass a steam iron over the whole cloth followed by my heavy dry iron, then I am not sure if that just makes everything uneven.

Anyway here is a video I found showing how it used to be done, it looks like something that is possible in the workshop, given space. I love the way the cloth is hung.

Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwaLpI0uwqc

[Hendrick]

Fantastic! I love how they manipulate these lengths. But I don't think that many of todays fabrics could take this kind of finish...

[Thom Bennett]

From speaking with some of the English cloth manufacturers it seems that these days all that is needed is a quick pass with the steam iron to straighten everything out after transport. What got me looking at LS particularly was the line which Huddersfield Cloth produce in conjunction with Johnson Bros. At 280g it's a good modern weight, I'm getting some next week to make a business suit for a client (one of my first). But, I did think the video would interest you all.

[Henry Hall]

It's an excellent video. I've watched a lot of the Pathé videos to do with tailoring/cloth. but never seen that one.

It's always amazing how basic the processes are and the quality goods it produced.