As far as tailoring goes, I know very little. More than the average joe maybe, but it is an endless knowledge base which is changing day by day as machines are updated, workrooms experiment, thread qualities change, new fabrics are blended, society's tastes change etc etc. One facet of textiles manufacturing which is at the core of good tailoring, is sewing. Sewing has its own world on the internet. Websites, forums, online workshops abound the world wide web. Another great aspect of the internet is that it gives people a place to store and sell that knowledge to others, but the mere fact that it is being documented and stored means that it isn't being lost, which is a very very good thing. The world has to thank women for this. If it weren't for their continual interest in garment making and home arts and crafts - a lot of the more obscure stitch work might well have been lost.
Recently I have been obsessed with one facet of tailoring - silk yarn thread stitch work for top stitching. Specifically, I have been interested in 30/3 silk yarn because it is hard to come by in Sydney, Australia. This roll below is over 20 years old and came from Perivale which is no longer operational in Sydney from what I am allowed to find using the Oracle (Google). If any of you Englishmen out there know anything about the English Perivale company and whether or not it still exists, please leave a note below. In the meantime, I have found myself a brand new supplier of silk thread but I am going to have to keep it hush hush because we are working on a new product which I don't wish to jump the gun about. The silk 30/3 thread seems to be ideal in top stitching a tailored jacket and certainly in my own experience of its application in one of our LNP jackets, it worked a treat. The same thread, I believe, is also used by tie makers to create the slip stitch and loop in a hand-made tie. Having spent the day researching silk thread, I can tell you that there is a fantastic page out there with a small history of thread by Alex Askaroff on Sewalot.Com. If you have the time or the inclination, you will find that is a very rewarding read. So, whilst nylon, cotton, linen and polyester thread all has it's place, there is something slippery, shiny and serpenty about silk thread that is keeping me interested in knowing more about it.
 |
| 30/3 silk yarn, fantastic for a top stitch |
I have some Perivale Regal 30/3 silk thread on the smaller paper spools which hold 10 yards. These were bought by myself in the late 60's early 70's. I used them to hand stitch buttonholes. On ladies top garments I did prick stitch edges, but because these were thicker fabrics than men's suiting, the stitches showed the effect rather than the stitches. Perivale was taken over many years ago by Guttermann.
ReplyDelete