Straight Out of the Box But Just Couldn't Wait...

I took delivery this morning of a box and too my surprise, I realised it was my own sports jacket that had been finished by my tailor in London. I started this jacket last summer and took the forward fitting out to show when we where invited to Beijing, China last September for a luxury goods expo. 
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However as we have been so busy we couldn't get the jacket finished, as obviously the customers always come first!

I'm looking forward to getting this back from the finisher next week and having it ready for our March USA trip and if I get a chance I will take another couple of photo's after the hand button holes are in and it's buttoned and pressed.
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What I like about this cloth from the Porter & Harding (Harrisons), Glorious Twelve bunch is its flexibility and we have made up nearly the whole bunch for customers over the years. 
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It is a 11oz Sporting Tweed & Country Collection but is perfect for either sport coats, such as this or to be made up in two or three piece suits, as is the cloth shown here of which I just caught Dad cutting out for a new customer in The States. (25338 Brown donegal) 

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This one of mine is the 25341. It is a grey barley corn weave with a blue over-check and although I have had it made up as a sports coat, I may end up following the lead of a customer of ours who had it made up as a sports jacket originally and then decided a 2-piece suit will work as well so we made the trousers up for him and it looks fantastic. 

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That's the great thing about this bunch, it is a good weight with it being 11oz so it suitable for 3/4 of the year in most climates and most of the patterns work well as sports coats and suits depending on the occasion.
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I'm going to be using my jacket as a more casual sport jacket to travel in and to go out for meals as it looks equally great with jeans or grey flannels with a nice Oxford blue shirt and black or brown shoes and even for the most daring of people, white trainers/sneakers. 


Best,
Matthew

Anderson & Sheppard, A Style Is Born

I was lucky enough to be given this lovely book as a present for my recent birthday and I must say it is a fantastic and interesting read with some beautiful and encapsulating photo's in it.

It brought back wonderful memories to see so many of the customers that I had looked after, during my seven years there and you can see why so many still want to be part of such a rich history, by having their clothes made there. 


Also while I may not be in the book from a photographic standpoint in person, I am however there in the form of my handwriting, on the one jacket pattern that they chose to feature, who was a customer of Colin Harvey and later mine once Harvey retired. 


Each cutter used to mark his patterns with their initials, which you can see on the white note, with the measurements on at the bottom of this pattern.

What a wonderful surprise it was to see the painting of Colin Harvey at his board, which I had never seen before but really encapsulates him perfectly and just as I had remembered him. I recently bumped into his brother John, who was a director at Scabal's (from whenever I can remember), whilst on The Row last Friday and I asked him if he knew of this painting as I would love a print of this, if not the original! 

When Harvey retired he gave me his cutting shears, which I don't use but have retained the yellow cloth that he had wrapped around the handle and now adorn the shears that I use, which where my Fathers. 


If you look at the picture below you can see that the artist has included this in his painting.

For those of you who wish to purchase the book, you can contact Anderson & Sheppard through their website for details on how to find it.