The Journal
Notes on cloth, construction and proportion — written from the work in front of us, and usually from something we got wrong first.
Buying Cloth by the Metre
How much to buy, what the weight actually tells you, and the questions to ask before you commit.
Read — 6 min
Measuring Yourself, Properly
Eleven numbers, a soft tape, and the four mistakes that account for almost every bad set.
Three Tiers, One Coat
The same jacket in fifteen cloths. What actually changes as you move up, and what does not.
The Gurkha Waistband
A military quartermaster's solution to a shortage, and the most comfortable waistband ever drafted.
Flannel and Worsted
Two wools that behave so differently they are barely the same material.
The Canvas You Cannot See
What half-canvassed actually means, and why it is the only construction detail worth arguing about.
What a Check Costs You in Cloth
Two jackets, same size, same make. One needs fifteen per cent more cloth than the other.
The Scale of a Check
The most common defect in a garment photograph is not colour. It is size.
Never Trust a Colour Name
A cloth called Charcoal 06 turned out to be forest green. It was not an error in the data.