elizabeth_mn (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
elizabeth_mn) wrote2014-07-01 11:43 am
elizabeth_mn) wrote2014-07-01 11:43 am
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Favorite Menswear Resources
This morning I read ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
m_of_disguise's post about sewing men's costumes, and it made me realize I've been doing a lot of sewing for my guy recently. There are a ton of helpful resources I've used over the years, so I thought it would be fun to share a list!
Books:
I love books. I love sewing books even more. I am constantly running to my bookshelf mid-project to look up a technique, compare a pattern shape, or get accessory ideas. These are my absolute faves for menswear.
Classic Tailoring Techniques by Roberto Cabrera. This is my #1 reference. This is where they tell you how to do everything the "good" way. How often do I do all of it? Eh, not very often. But it's still my go-to book for a jumping-off point. It's currently out of print, but I got it for about $30 on Amazon; if you keep an eye on it for a few months sometimes the price drops.
ANYTHING by David Page Coffin. Definitely modern, and almost entirely machine-sewing, but he has such a passion for the ultimate refinement of any technique. He does experiments with four ways to put in a fly zipper and analyzes the benefits and drawbacks of each. His shirt placket method made me wonder why anyone ever thought they were scary.
The Tudor Tailor. I love this. Well-researched with nice pattern diagrams and great explanation of the techniques.
The Victorian Tailor. This is probably the newest one on my bookshelf. Lots of historic information, pictures from the era, hand sewing techniques, styles separated by decades. Patterns for many garments.
The Cut of Men's Clothes by Norah Waugh. Similar to her book on women's clothes but smaller. Lots of source images and patterns for a range of eras.
Costume Close-Up by Linda Baumgarten. This is a great book diagramming extant garments. There are only a few men's garments in here but they are worth it.
Fashion In Detail. Everyone has this, right?
It's a lot of women's wear, but there are some wonderful men's garments too, like this cuff spread that I have stared at intently for a cumulative 17 hours of my life.
Books of photographs like American Victorian Costume by Priscilla Harris Dalrymple are handy for seeing what real people were wearing.
I don't use this one as much, because that very late Victorian and Edwardian look just hasn't been my thing so far. But I like it anyway. Just images, only a teeny bit of text. That's kind of irritating because you just know there had to be some text accompanying the illustrations originally.
Patterns:
Of course, many of the books above contain pattern diagrams, but sometimes you just want something full size.
J.P. Ryan gents' patterns are wonderful and a delight to work with. Worth every penny. I do wish there were more styles with variations.
Laughing Moon has a selection of men's patterns. Recently they've expanded to include Georgian and Regency eras. I used the Victorian Frock Coat years ago, and it's a nice pattern, BUT there are some weird directions. DON'T use all the horsehair canvas like the direction say. Just don't. But if you ignore the directions, the pattern itself is pretty nice: pieces fit together, well-fitting, nice shape, etc.
Reconstructing History: I'm sorry, but I have to give them a D-. I have the late Victorian tailcoat and the 1790s-1810s frock coat, though I've only used the Victorian tailcoat and I gave that a bit of an overhaul. The patterns given will look only vaguely like the illustrations. You'll notice that there are 2 different coats in the Victorian pattern. In reality, only 1 view is given, and it's neither of these. The directions are vague, it seems like steps are skipped. The pieces don't fit together exactly.
I really, really, wanted to like Reconstructing History, mostly because for some styles they are the only game in town. The Victorian tailcoat in particular is a hard pattern to find and not a lot of folks are doing one right now. But the patterns are expensive for their level of quality, and in my opinion, just not worth the trouble.
I've found Past Patterns to be sometimes good, sometimes, mediocre. For men, I've only used the drawers pattern, and it turned out nicely, but the rest of the mens' selection is mostly shirts and informal work wear.
Simplicity has had a few winners. I liked the now-out-of-print Fashion Historian shirt and pants pattern and used it several times. Sizing down with Simplicity is always the rule.
Finally, for modern sewing, Burda is my #1 favorite for men's patterns. First of all, they actually have a decent selection, which Vogue and the others don't; second, they are stylish; third, they work. You can view their paper patterns available for men for sale here. Please note that their Burda Style website ONLY has the PDF patterns. There are some nice ones, but printing and taping together 100 sheets of paper sounds like my idea of hell. If you enjoy this sort of exercise, they do have some interesting vintage-style ones.
That's all I've got for now! I'm sure there are many things I've missed, so please share your favorite menswear resources with me!
m_of_disguise's post about sewing men's costumes, and it made me realize I've been doing a lot of sewing for my guy recently. There are a ton of helpful resources I've used over the years, so I thought it would be fun to share a list!Books:
I love books. I love sewing books even more. I am constantly running to my bookshelf mid-project to look up a technique, compare a pattern shape, or get accessory ideas. These are my absolute faves for menswear.
Classic Tailoring Techniques by Roberto Cabrera. This is my #1 reference. This is where they tell you how to do everything the "good" way. How often do I do all of it? Eh, not very often. But it's still my go-to book for a jumping-off point. It's currently out of print, but I got it for about $30 on Amazon; if you keep an eye on it for a few months sometimes the price drops.
ANYTHING by David Page Coffin. Definitely modern, and almost entirely machine-sewing, but he has such a passion for the ultimate refinement of any technique. He does experiments with four ways to put in a fly zipper and analyzes the benefits and drawbacks of each. His shirt placket method made me wonder why anyone ever thought they were scary.
The Tudor Tailor. I love this. Well-researched with nice pattern diagrams and great explanation of the techniques.
The Victorian Tailor. This is probably the newest one on my bookshelf. Lots of historic information, pictures from the era, hand sewing techniques, styles separated by decades. Patterns for many garments.
The Cut of Men's Clothes by Norah Waugh. Similar to her book on women's clothes but smaller. Lots of source images and patterns for a range of eras.
Costume Close-Up by Linda Baumgarten. This is a great book diagramming extant garments. There are only a few men's garments in here but they are worth it.
Fashion In Detail. Everyone has this, right?
It's a lot of women's wear, but there are some wonderful men's garments too, like this cuff spread that I have stared at intently for a cumulative 17 hours of my life.
Books of photographs like American Victorian Costume by Priscilla Harris Dalrymple are handy for seeing what real people were wearing.
I don't use this one as much, because that very late Victorian and Edwardian look just hasn't been my thing so far. But I like it anyway. Just images, only a teeny bit of text. That's kind of irritating because you just know there had to be some text accompanying the illustrations originally.
Patterns:
Of course, many of the books above contain pattern diagrams, but sometimes you just want something full size.
J.P. Ryan gents' patterns are wonderful and a delight to work with. Worth every penny. I do wish there were more styles with variations.
Laughing Moon has a selection of men's patterns. Recently they've expanded to include Georgian and Regency eras. I used the Victorian Frock Coat years ago, and it's a nice pattern, BUT there are some weird directions. DON'T use all the horsehair canvas like the direction say. Just don't. But if you ignore the directions, the pattern itself is pretty nice: pieces fit together, well-fitting, nice shape, etc.
Reconstructing History: I'm sorry, but I have to give them a D-. I have the late Victorian tailcoat and the 1790s-1810s frock coat, though I've only used the Victorian tailcoat and I gave that a bit of an overhaul. The patterns given will look only vaguely like the illustrations. You'll notice that there are 2 different coats in the Victorian pattern. In reality, only 1 view is given, and it's neither of these. The directions are vague, it seems like steps are skipped. The pieces don't fit together exactly.
I really, really, wanted to like Reconstructing History, mostly because for some styles they are the only game in town. The Victorian tailcoat in particular is a hard pattern to find and not a lot of folks are doing one right now. But the patterns are expensive for their level of quality, and in my opinion, just not worth the trouble.
I've found Past Patterns to be sometimes good, sometimes, mediocre. For men, I've only used the drawers pattern, and it turned out nicely, but the rest of the mens' selection is mostly shirts and informal work wear.
Simplicity has had a few winners. I liked the now-out-of-print Fashion Historian shirt and pants pattern and used it several times. Sizing down with Simplicity is always the rule.
Finally, for modern sewing, Burda is my #1 favorite for men's patterns. First of all, they actually have a decent selection, which Vogue and the others don't; second, they are stylish; third, they work. You can view their paper patterns available for men for sale here. Please note that their Burda Style website ONLY has the PDF patterns. There are some nice ones, but printing and taping together 100 sheets of paper sounds like my idea of hell. If you enjoy this sort of exercise, they do have some interesting vintage-style ones.
That's all I've got for now! I'm sure there are many things I've missed, so please share your favorite menswear resources with me!