The SuitsGreyFox Project 4: Cutting and Tailoring

I've described the conception and design of the Johnstons of Elgin x Grey Fox Blog SuitsGreyFox project in previous features (click here). The final suit, so beautifully cut and tailored by Tristan Thorne and Dege & Skinner of Savile Row (pictured below during a fitting), fits to perfection.

From initial measuring, through several fittings, the creation of the suit was one of care, attention to detail and intense pride in the work. Mindful of the military tailoring heritage of Dege & Skinner I wanted to include some traditional elements of such style in the suit. After much discussion with Tristan, the suit has details like the turnback cuffs, roped shoulders, a double-breasted coat with buttonholes on each lapel, deep turn-ups on the trousers and a sharp, silhouette owing much to Dege & Skinner's military tailoring experience. The coat is very slightly shorter, in a nod to contemporary tastes, but overall the suit blends tradition and fashion in a way that illustrates the best of English Savile Row bespoke tailoring. 

I'm very grateful to all at Dege & Skinner for the work they did to produce this masterpiece to show off the cloth I designed with Johnstons of Elgin. In particular I enjoyed working with Tristan Thorne and I can't recommend his skills as cutter highly enough. Thanks also to William Skinner, and to Cass Stainton without whose vision this project wouldn't have got off the ground.

Dege & Skinner are one of the last family-owned tailors left on Savile Row and represent a long heritage (they are over 150 years old) tempered by a very contemporary approach to tailoring. I am pleased and privileged to have been able to work with them.

The SuitsGreyFoxProject 3 - making the cloth: warping, weaving, scouring & finishing

In previous features I described how the SuitsGreyFox project came about to collaborate with Johnstons of Elgin on the design and manufacture of a cloth which was then cut and tailored by Savile Row tailors, Dege & Skinner to make a suit. The tailoring process will be described in the next and last post. Here I show how the cloth was manufactured.

The cloth, soft yet durable, is a mix of merino and cashmere. Here, from laying out the warp, through weaving to finishing, you can watch the processes which went into make up the manufacture of the cloth.

The weaving process begins with the laying out the warp. The warp consists of the threads which run vertically from the top to the bottom of the cloth

When the warp is ready it is wound onto a circular beam and transferred to the loom for weaving. Weaving is the introduction of the weft yarn, the thread that runs horizontally across the cloth

Scouring removes the oil applied to protect the fibre during the manufacturing process. 

The Finishing process - After scouring and milling, the fabric is dried by passing it over rollers in a tenter machine, before being meticulously pressed.

The tailoring of the suit, pictured below, will be featured in the final post of this feature very soon.

The SuitsGreyFox Project 2: Designing the Cloth

In the first blog post on the SuitsGreyFox Project I explained how I'd been invited to design a cloth with Johnstons of Elgin. Famous for their cashmere, merino and lambswool cloths, their mill in Elgin takes raw fibre and dyes, spins and weaves it: all these operations are carried out in the same factory. I'll cover manufacture in the next part of this series; but how is a cloth designed?

Johnstons work with household name international fashion houses and play a large part in producing some iconic designs. Working with their design team I firstly had a look at Johnston of Elgin's wonderful archive, a room full of ancient and fragile leather-bound books containing samples of cloths woven in the mill since Victorian times.

In the Johnston of Elgin archive

Leafing through the books I looked for elements of design that I liked; colours, checks, texture, patterns. I had in mind a Prince of Wales check, and it was lucky I had this idea as a start - without it I would have been overcome by the huge variety of possibilities.

A check with a soft blue overcheck caught my eye

I was taken with a grey check and found a sample with a subtle, soft broad blue overcheck. It seemed to me that this may add a slightly different element to the final design. I also went though more modern and contemporary designs for further inspiration, aided by Brian Hinnigan, Design & Sales Director at Johnstons.

Looking though the collection with Brian Hinnigan, Design & sales Director

Over the next few weeks Brian worked on the design elements I specified and sent me various CAD printouts, showing the possibilities of pattern and colour using the colour library of some 6,500 hues. I considered a range of palettes from brownish red to grey. Brian advised me that a pure cashmere cloth wouldn't have the durability necessary for a suit, so we planned for a cashmere/merino mix. I'll say more about that in Part 3 of this series when I describe the manufacture of the cloth. 

CAD printouts showing some of the design possibilites

After some discussion and tinkering with colours and design elements we ended up with several possibilities. At this stage a section blanket was woven. This exciting stage of the process produces a section of cloth into which all the design options are printed in squares. The blanket was cut up and sent to me for a final decision.

The cut-up section blanket showing the design options

Selecting a final design for weaving was hard, but not impossible. I knew that I wanted a wearable design, useful and durable enough for town or country use, so charcoal/grey with a blue overcheck were the colours of choice. I also wanted a design that was different and had some impact: not enough to make me feel self-conscious wearing the suit, but enough to make a statement. This was the design that I selected:

Throughout I found that Brian and the design team had an uncanny ability to interpret what I was after. I had a reasonably clear picture in my head of what the cloth might look like. The final product is exactly what I had in mind.

In the next part of this feature I'll tell you more about the cloth, its construction and how it was woven.

See more at Johnstons of Elgin. The suit was tailored by Dege & Skinner (this will be featured in part 4 of this series).

The SuitsGreyFox Project 1: from mill to bespoke - a suit is born

To be invited to design a cloth and to find a bespoke tailor to have it made into a suit must be the ultimate menswear blogger's dream. And it's just happened to me. In a collaboration with Johnstons of Elgin and Dege & Skinner of Savile Row a beautiful cashmere/wool cloth was made in Scotland and tailored into a very English suit for a very lucky blogger.

Image Jonathan Daniel Pryce @GarconJon - Chester Brogues by Loake

The project had its roots in my first visit to the Elgin mill at which raw fibre, cashmere, lambswool or merino, enters the building at one end, emerging as gorgeous cloths at the other. I was deeply impressed by the skills and passion of all involved. The mill's archive of cloth samples goes back to Victoria's reign and contains a large selection of designs, many familiar to us today and many unusual to our eyes, but meriting a revival. I harboured a secret dream to design a cloth inspired by what I'd seen. It was therefore a huge surprise, privilege and pleasure to be invited by Johnstons earlier this year to do just that. 

Archive inspiration, one of the samples that inspired the final cloth design

Over the next few weeks I'll take you on the exciting journey from fibre to completed suit, exploring the design and manufacturing skills of a Scottish mill and the cutting and tailoring skills of Dege & Skinner, the Savile Row tailors I selected to make the suit. 

See Johnstons of Elgin and Dege & Skinner for more information about what they do.

At this point I'd like to out on record my thanks to the many people at Johnstons of Elgin and Dege & Skinner who've been involved with this project. I'll mention many as we go along, but one thing is clear - great projects like this are a team effort and the final suit is a model of British design, manufacture and tailoring skills involving men and women of all ages. It's easy not to appreciate just how much goes into making a roll of cloth and a complex garment like a suit. I learned that such skills take years, generations even, to acquire. I hope this series give you some inkling of what's involved.