Admitting To Your Mistakes - The Various Weights And Density Of Shirting Weaves And Fibres

Below is an example of two shirts that were purchased by a customer recently. When he approached us he wanted his new shirts to be less tight because his shirts previously were becoming too close to his torso that a big meal or two weeks of eating badly could make them feel uncomfortable. Still, the customer loves to stay trim and over the years has not oscillated too wildly in weight.

The problem then became that whilst we let out his pattern across all shirts that were cut, the customer had chosen a variety of weights from denim to fine Carlo Riva super light weight cloth. There were also different weaves from herringbones to plain weave and oxfords. The result was that whilst the denim shirt fit the customer perfectly, the lighter weight cloths, though being cut and verified to the exact same measures, gave a very different experience to the customer. The denim hugged the body and made him feel locked in whereas one of the lighter fabrics with less body and structure seemed to flow and billow more. 

Whilst ultimately this becomes a problem we rectify there are a few things that the customer should consider when embarking on a bespoke shirt and ordering a try on shirt before commencement of the order and that is the weight and the weave of the cloth used for the try on shirt. Despite the fact that the try on shirt, which is usually made of cabbage (left over cloth from production ) shirting cotton of say 100 2 ply in a twill, may fit perfectly; when cutting the exact same pattern and then sewing for example a 200 2 ply super fine cotton, you will not necessarily get the same result.

A shirt maker who uses digitally printed drawings before cutting would have to separately print two sets of drawings before cutting to avoid alterations once the shirt is cut. Whilst I don't advocate one way or the other to rectify the problem I would encourage people to group their shirt cloths together before purchasing and as another remedy, taking the shirts home and wearing and washing them two or three times before deciding on how much to take them in. 

If you would like us to try and get your perfectly fitted to your next chosen cloth - make an appointment with us www.lenoeudpapillon.com

Denim cloth tends to hold more structure and hug the body more

Lighter weight and superfine cottons tend to slouch and billow at times and require some more finess to get them right.