Off The Cuff Savile Row Bespoke Suits

Savile Row Sleeves

Ever wondered why the sleeves on Savile Row coats always look beautiful ?…….. with the exception of Anderson+Sheppard who’s sleeves ALWAYS look bloody horrible to my eye ! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I reserve my right to give an opinion on Anderson and Sheppard, not that they really give two hoots to my opinion, I mean they churn out about 115 suits a month so they are doing alright.

But if you think I am kidding about the crap they turn out, then look on my gallery images under How Not To and take a long hard look at the coat of a client of mine that came in for a sponge and press that was made by them in 2009. I have removed his name from the label and the suit number to preserve his identity, but I can tell you this, he is one of THE most respected CEO’s in the UK so it beggars belief that it was passed as good from the workroom to him. The picture below shows me hand basting, setting a sleeve into the armhole of a clients coat.

Me basting a sleeve in.

I always double check through the various fitting stages that I give all my clients, that the coat sleeve hangs correctly.

This ensures when the coat is finally worn by my client I can be sure that there will be no drags, pulls, ripples or puckers anywhere on either the front and more importantly the BACK of the sleeve. This is the absolute number one task of mine regarding sleeves.

But to also get it to drape and look beautiful is the true art. All my coats are cut with a very small armhole so that my clients get a lot of what we call ‘lift’ through the sleeve. Ie, when you sit down or move your arms whilst wearing one of my coats, the collar and shoulders will always sit tight to your neck and the only part that will move is the sleeve and not the actual body of the coat. Try doing this in a ready to wear suit and you would think that The Incredible Hulk was wrestling your coat from you ……

The picture below right shows what I mean.

The sleeve drapes and hangs at the correct angle. This sleeve, as with all the sleeves I make will have the mark of a true tailored suit, which is a strong ‘rope’ sleeve head. The shoulder line on the coat below is perfect and smooth, the collar is tight to the dummy at the neck and the lapels are uber flat to the chest.

The out-breast welt pocket is clean and hand made, if you look really carefully you will see the delicate real hand stitching along the top edge and down the sides of it, not machine stitched like others will claim is hand done. The collar is basted and ready for all the delicate hand stitching to join and finish the lapel and collar together. All the signs of quality I hope are evident to see.

To get a good rope sleeve head not only has the sleeve to be hand set into the coat, but so has the little piece of wadding that goes into the sleeve crown, the round head portion, that allows the graceful fall of the cloth over it. Nothing from a factory can come close to a hand set, hand finished sleeve …… ever.

The cloth in the picture to the right is an 11oz all wool flannel woven in Yorkshire. So for the finest suits North of Savile arow give me a call I would love to hear from you. desmerrion.com