Stretch Leather Mens Jeans

Another recent project, this time men's custom made jeans in stretch leather:

The stretch leather is popular with guys, its great if you are active and also if you need to sit for long periods since the waistband allows for stretch as well.  The leather is from the same tannery that creates the leathers Jitrois uses. Beautiful, supple and comfortably backed with cotton stretch fabric. The leather is available in a constantly changing array of colors weights and finishes, Black of course is a pure classic....

Stretch Leather Mens Jeans

The words and works of a Master

On the BOF (the Business of Fashion) site has posted an incredibly inspiring interview with Azzedine Alaïa.   Anyone who who is passionate about fashion, design,  quality,  craftsmanship & the integrity left remaining in this business  MUST read this interview.

His Fall 2011 show,  his first runway collection in 8 years was vintage Alaïa, of course,  in quality of cut, technique and hand.  The silhouettes are as curvaceous and sensual as ever.  And, none of it ever feels derivative of his past work, but rather its all a real evolution of his truly personal craft, techniques and powerful vision.

His conviction to his art shows in every single piece.

I have always admired & looked up to him as an artist,  and I worship his leather work.  I vividly remember how he was practically pilloried in the late 1980's / early 90's for not putting on regular fashion shows and for not following the industry's increasingly hectic and seemingly perverse scheduling.   What?  As if Alaïa should compete with large scale "luxury" lines?  (made increasingly in China, Slovakia or elsewhere?)  That Alaïa should compete with anybody for that matter!  The quote at the end of Style.com's review says it all...

"There's everyone else. Then there's Alaïa."

perfect!

The words and works of a Master

Yes, it is Leather

 This just in - a drop dead gorgeous client in her custom-made leather dress! 

(I love this photo! Thank you B. for sending it to me.)

Here is some detail:

...and it is really bronze, a beautiful pearlescent lambskin.

More Stretch Leather

Yes, it is Leather

My very own Scarlett O'Hara, GWTW Moment

Been busy and way backed up with posting here, even without the glitches-  I am once and for all going to finish my custom made wedding dress series,  right here and right now - before I get back to leather & before my first anniversary!!!!

(…and yes to all my :) customers….before you ask…I am still married!!!  & I do love you guys…)

For those of you who've not been here before and are not interested in looking back,  in a nutshell, this dress is my very own Scarlett O'Hara moment.

It's made from my husband's Mother's (& we think, her mother's) antique hand-embroidered, cut-work linen tablecloth.

I will leave my former fiance's initial reaction - when I announced what I was going to do with this very old,  very well loved and very, very stained tablecloth - to your imagination...

Ta Da!

...and this was our "First Dance" Music!

My very own Scarlett O'Hara, GWTW Moment

The Finishing Touches

I am determined to finish this and I promise I will never put you through this again.

The Dress,  that month of work-on top of all the other work.

Putting together a wedding on your own...a whole other  part of you just  rises to the surface.  It's kind of like that movie "Basket Case".  When else do I go to Macy's... to shop???? ( I can't stand Macy's) and buy 5 pairs of shoes just to try?  Then buy 2 more on 34th street in a fit of panic. (6 hours of returns) When else does my better-half get even more involved than me in planning a party menu & insisting on the (amazing) chef & trekking over to Chinatown on the subway to buy,  lord knows, how many pounds of shrimp,  so the menu is absolutely perfect?

Not a lot of places in life where collaboration is quite like this, this is theater.  Starting  at the top...

Invite:

Ellen Weldon Design LLC

Cake:

Cake by Scott McMillen, cake man extraordinaire of the Institute of Culinary Education

Ring- for the groom...

Ring by Nurit Design

Shoes:

....the heels risk getting stuck in between roof tiles

... another shape, but not what I am going for

perfect style tor my Titania like dress... but do they have the color???
Aldo Shoes, which amazingly makes shoes in my size.

Hair:

a pouf to match my dress...by Kelly at Santanica

And of course the chef, the wonderful John Berninzoni, formerly of Chanterelle.

The Finishing Touches

The Wedding Dress- the Final Stretch

Coming up to the final stretch here!   That is: getting that monster panel of a skirt onto the bodice, which means pleating about 175" of length, that the skirt edge now measures, (after reducing it) into the 26" that the corset waist measures.

The answer is cartridge pleating, this type of pleating, used mainly in costumes and period clothing reproduction today, serves several purposes.  It reduces a very large length of cloth much more effectively than simply gathering and the construction causes the pleating to stand out and creates volume. Here, it will give a very pretty and controlled volume to the skirt and I can make full use of the uninterrupted panel of embroidery.

I do a little test and find out that the floral motif in the solid section of linen does not take to the pleating at all. I decide to pick it out. I discover that all these flower petals are incredibly, & beautifully, padded out with layers of under stitching in a cream colored cotton yarn. The embroidery covers this pad stitching perfectly and it is a lot of of work to pick out. But I can't pleat it properly otherwise. So I pick out all the petals that intersect the pleating area.

The beautiful padding stitches- partially removed

Then I line the skirt, I was lucky to find in the perfect shade of china silk. It is simply attached at cut edge and the layers merrowed clean. I also just merrowed the lining hem, I am starting to feel stressed.

The pleats are formed with a running stitch, by eye,  as evenly as possible and using super strong thread. Then stitched, all by hand,  by catching just the top fold of each pleat to the bodice. My hand sewing is rusty - not much call for it in leather (best if there's none).   Here's another test shot- kind of a straight cross view:

At the bottom you can see the tabs that will lie under the skirt.

The silicora thread only comes in black and  dead white, but the non-match won't be a problem

Inside showing final cartridge pleating

outside  of cartridge pleating, my hand stitching sucks but it will not show( at all) when on- That's the beauty of this beast!

The front of the skirt has no pleats and is stitched to 'float' under the extended front of the corset

See!

On a hangar, you don't get the effect of the pleats

I still need figure out what to replace that zipper pull ribbon with!

Next : The Finishing Touches.

The Wedding Dress- the Final Stretch

Adventures with a Cutwork Tablecloth, part 8

Looks like I am not going to get this series done before the Honeymoon! I will try and condense it a bit and stick mainly to pictures.

I left off at the almost finished bodice here.  Now to finish it off:

oops, remember to change needles when working with silk chiffon!

Clean finished Bodice.

Since this is a corset that is cut at the waist, it will dig into my hips if not tabbed, Tabbing also prevents what could be called "reverse" muffin-top.  The tabs - one side is silk over canvas to prevent any possibility of show through on skirt.

The tabs are simply finished on the merrow machine for less bulk and hand stitched to top of inside binding edge.  A waist stay tape is added to keep bodice snug and anchored and prevents it from riding up.

This is the inside of the finished bodice:

Prussian tape zip pull for fittings - only way I am able to zip it up without help!

Now to tackle the skirt, which as shown here is a huge rectangular swath of embroidered linen, the center section of which made up the bodice embroidery. (you can see the curved edges in some of the earlier detail photos) I did minimal cutting to retain the motifs, and scooped out some more at the front so skirt will be shorter in front.  (You can see the original curved edges of the central embroidery on the 2nd image in this post)

The skirt panel is huge, measuring about 185" on the long sides. I say 'about' because when I fold it in half lengthwise it I discover the sides are not the same length and the motifs do not align. Seems in laying out the embroidery those many, many years ago, rather than flipping the (asymmetrical- as it turns out) pattern. It was rotated. So now there is about 4" extra fabric on each side of the skirt, but extra is at front on one side and at back on the other side. Somehow a teeny bit of the motif was traced out on the pattern twice. But it messes with me. So I have to fix it:

whoa!

what gets removed

that zig-zag machine comes in handy

almost invisible

The finished skirt panel.  Opening is quite curved now since I removed a lot of fullness from the waist edge,  removing little wedges and zig-ging it like I did the embroidered section.  Too much fabric to be gathered to corset even with the cartridge pleating I am going use.  The seams will disappear very nicely into the pleats.

Some of our custom Wedding work in Leather.

Adventures with a Cutwork Tablecloth, part 8

Custom Made Leather Jeans; the Process

Custom-Made is different from Made-to-Order.  Made-to-Order is where an existing pattern is cut with small modifications to the original fit.  Or it can be a standard pattern cut in a non-standard fabrication.

Custom made is specifically cut & tailored to fit one individual  body.
Bespoke is specifically men's wear (English).  Haute couture is  specifically women's wear (French).  Both are individually cut and fit custom- made garments. 

At Behrle NYC,  This is how we make all our men's jeans.  (We do made-to-order in women's styles only).  I am always asked if we do Custom-Made via mail order.  The answer is YES.

The Process:  for Mail Order.

Please contact us via the contact form and include your email address.

You may provide a brief description of what you are looking for - color/style, etc. 

We will contact you for additional information & then send you a measurement chart with instructions and a diagram showing you how to measure. You can take this to a tailor or fill it out yourself- (it's best to have help). The more info you can provide - the better.  We are here & happy to answer any questions.

Send back the completed chart back along with 3 clear photos taken in a well fitting pair of pants- stand straight and relaxed. We need to see front, side and back (full length or torso to floor- it doesn't matter)

We send an invoice for deposit via Paypal (payable within credit card)   Once the measurements & photos are is received, along with your deposit, we start on your muslin, (aka a "toile") which is a cotton fitting garment.  

In approx a week to 10 days (depending on the season) you will receive your muslin/toile along with swatches of leather (based on your preferences),  pins & instructions on how to fit.  You will try it on and mark &/or pin any changes/adjustments and again provide clear photos as before. (front, side and back.)  This way we can see any additional adjustments that will allow us to perfect and customize the fit to you.  You return the marked pinned muslin with your choice of leather noted.
 
Pattern is corrected & finalized before anything is cut in leather. When pants are done we let you know and invoice the balance which is due before we to ship.

Working by mail order occasionally requires a second muslin, so rush projects will not be accepted by mail.   3-4 weeks is minimal time frame for mail order, depending on the season.  The final shipping charges will vary according to method and location.

We have a standard price range for classic men's jeans that is based on a limited range of currently popular leathers.  However, since Leather prices and availability are subject to change we do not list prices here. You must contact us for current information. 

Stretch leather, exotics, specialty finishes & details like cordovan lacing, contrast top stitching, appliqué and inlay work are not part of this basic range. These are estimated on a per project basis and the time frame on specialty projects vary accordingly.  For More information please see our FAQS page.

 More Examples of Our Custom Made and Specialty Leather Work.

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Custom Made Leather Jeans; the Process

Custom Made Cutwork Linen Wedding Dress Parts 6 & 7

Yikes!  It'll be my one year anniversary if I finish up this series at the rate I am going. 

Ok,  here we are almost September and I've been married almost 3 months- which is over 2 months longer than this dress took to finish!  I had a couple of very fortuitously quite weeks in May, so I took the time and made it into a luxury for myself and started this project.  I have not worked in fabric in ages so it's a little bit of a treat (plus a p.i.t.a. since I am not set up for it)  &  7 Is the halfway point.

 
While it's not leather,  it is still a fair overview of what can be involved in the making of a fine and truly custom-made garment.  And the many (often unexpected) problems and solutions that come into play in during the construction of  specialty custom made items.

I won't go to much into detail, it bores me completely now so I can imagine from your end. (But I am going to finish this series and that is probably the end of my experiment into following the "process")

As for this project, it is my tiny contribution to keeping very specialized & fine construction out there.  Enough!

notice;  there is a seam that will be boned  in the middle of the under layer
aka- sewing yourself into a corner.




inside view of seam before boning


boned


basted to stitch-inside



basted to stitch-outside




God forbid the strap needs shortening...

But that's what the muslin is for.  

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Custom Made Cutwork Linen Wedding Dress Parts 6 & 7