Tailor
From ThreadsOfTime
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Tailor
The word 'tailoring' means 'the art of cutting' in many languages, and indeed, it is the cut of the fabric that makes a garment fit the body to perfection. A tailor’s skill in measuring an individual’s body and making a pattern from those measurements determines how well a garment fits. Tailors make clothes for both men and women. Shirts, stockings, hats, and capes can be ready made, but coats, skits, breeches, stays, and gowns are custom made for individuals. So, no matter what a person’s social or economic status, everyone is a potential customer of a tailor.
Stays promoted proper posture
Tailors have very young customers, too, because tailors make stays – the boned body supports that give structure to the bodices of the clothing of women and children. It is imperative that proper children learn to stand, sit, and move properly, so boys wear stays until they are three or four years old. Stays help perfect the posture and allows a broad, open rib cage for proper breathing, thus ensuring good health. Baleine taken from the roof of the mouth of a whale was a perfect material for the 'boning' material in stays.
Clothes for men and women
Women’s clothes made by tailors included stays, riding habits, gowns, and hoops, but the real bread and butter of the tailoring trade was in the making of men’s coats and breeches. Tailors also make cloaks, hunting coats, great coats, and wrapping gowns
Fabric makes the difference
The tailor’s customer run the full social gamut – from the wealthy and elite to field surfs, and all the folks in between. The only discernible differences in the clothing for rich or poor is in the quality of the fabric. There is less difference in the quality of construction than in the type of fabric, since there is basically the same workmanship in a shirt for a surf as there was in a gentleman's fine silks. Most tailors do not sell fabric, so people select fabrics from a merchant in town and bring their own fabric to the tailor.
Gallery
 Measurements taken. |
 The Art of Cutting. |
 Tools of the Trade |
 Fabrics make the difference. |
 Working by Windowlight. |
