This is the basted fitting on a tweed jacket and moleskin trousers from Steven Hitchcock, ex-Anderson & Sheppard cutter and now very successful in his own right.



It is a pocket baste, in that the front edges are unfinished as well as the collar, sleeves etc, but the hip and chest pockets are in. This is more finished than some basted fittings, but less than A&S, which typically goes straight to a forward fitting. That seems odd to most people, but then I never felt the lack with my A&S fittings.

The cloth of the jacket and trousers is wonderful. I didn’t realise quite how pale the blue of the tweed would be, but I like it a lot. It will go particularly well with jeans and an open-collar shirt. The HE Box moleskin, on the other hand, has a wonderful handle despite being lightweight.



At the fitting the length of the jacket was good in the back but rather long in the front, so that will be pulled up. The sleeve length was good, perhaps a tad short, but the shoulders certainly needed taking in. The sleeve itself was tapered exactly how I like it, just big enough for a double-cuff shirt.

Interestingly, Steven had taken the unusual step of having the back seam sewn by hand, so that it could be tightened slightly in the top of my back, between my slightly prominent shoulder blades. This meant that enough drape could be cut to hang well across the blades, but it would not fall in excess between them. This seemed to have worked well, though it is hard to tell at this stage.


The trousers were rather high and the waistband will be lowered an inch. The legs hung very well but were a little too wide for my taste, and so they will be narrowed. A few changes, but then, as they say, this fitting is for the tailor not for me.

Next fitting in a couple of weeks.


Photography: Les Topham-Brown
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superchick

whatdo you think of a seamless back?

Anonymous

I like the green and gray colour combination of the jacket. What is the green collar fabric made of? Its that suede or moleskin?
Andie

Roger v.d. Velde

It’s hard to see from that angle, but does the jacket have a side panel?

I assume that this is your first suit with this tailor. It seems to me that you’ve had to make quite a few corrections. The width of the trouser bottoms ought to have been decided beforehand because having to narrow them at this stage is no easy task with the crease already determined. And the length of the jacket; did the tailor not feel that shortening it might through the whole garment “out of key”, as we say here in Italy?