[Sator]

Many excellent women's tailoring texts date from after the 1940s, in stark contrast to classical men's tailoring which enters into a slow death spiral.

Shaeffer, Claire. Couture Sewing. Taunton Press, Conneticut, 1993

Although a dressmaking text, it is included here for the interesting section on women’s tailored garments

Cabrera, Roberto and Flaherty-Meyers, Patricia: Classic Tailoring Techniques. A Construction Guide for Women's Wear. Fairchild Publications, New York, 1984

The women’s counterpart to Cabrera’s text on men’s tailoring.

Heath, Samuel. Coat and Skirt Making: Skirts, Trousers, Jackets, Coats. Granada Publishing, 6th Edition, London, 1981

A very good text covering the basics of cutting and making up of women’s tailored garments.

Ledbetter, Marie and Lansing, Linda Thiel. Tailoring, Traditional and Contemporary Techniques. Reston Publishing Company, Inc. Virginia, 1981.

A sound book covering the foundations of cutting and making up.

Margolis, Adele. The Complete Book of Tailoring. Doubleday & Company, Inc., New York, 1978

This seems to be regarded as something of a classic for home sewers. It gives clear instructions on coat making from the ground up. It runs to 462 pages in the 1978 edition.

Basic Tailoring. Time-Life Books, New York, 1974

This extremely well illustrated 208 page book can be purchased second hand very inexpensively, as copies seemed to abound. It gives an excellent account of the basis process of fitting and making up a lounge coat and trousers. This makes it a good first choice for anyone on a budget, but can also be recommended irrespective of price.

Moulton, Bertha. Garment-Cutting and Tailoring for Students. B.T. Batsford Ltd, London, 1967

Worthy of note for the range of garments it covers in the cutting section such as raglans, jodhpurs, riding breeches, hacking jackets, capes, hooded capes and panel coats.

Bane, Allyne. Tailoring. McGraw-Hill Company Inc., New York, 1958

Another sound text covering the basics of cutting and making up of women’s lounge jackets and tailored skirts

Poulin, Clarence: Tailoring Suits the Professional Way. Chas. A. Bennett Co. Inc. Publishers. Illinois, 1952

A quite compact American text whose strengths are the highly informative discussions on the fitting and making up of lounge coats and tailored skirts.

Morris, F.R. Ladies’ Garment Cutting and Making. The New Era Publishing Co. Ltd., London, circa 1940’s-50

This is one of the really classic texts for ladies’ garment cutting. It is a huge book running to 471 pages in the third edition. Part of the book is devoted to dressmaking but a substantial proportion of the book is dedicated to women’s tailoring. The entire book has been posted on the internet here:

http://www.vintagese...m-toc-long.html

Whife, Archibald. A (ed.): The Modern Tailor, Outfitter and Clothier. Fourth Edition. Vol I-III. The Caxton Publishing Company, Ltd. London, 1949

Arguably the most important English language textbook on cutting and tailoring published during the 20th century. The general editor of earlier edition was A.S. Bridgeland for the 1928, 1933 and 1936 editions. A 5th edition was published with A.A. Whife as its chief editor.

Holding, Thomas Hiram. The Direct System of Ladies’ Cutting. Originally published London, 1897. Reproduced by RL Shep, 1997.

No historical bibliography would be complete without Holding. It was around this time that women increasingly started to go to their men folk’s tailors. Holding notes that women preferred garments with masculine names and disliked any tailored garment that was too feminine.

[jefferyd]

Something that has me salivating is Claire Shaeffer & David Page Coffin's collaboration on Chanel called Behind the Seams- The Schaeffer Collection. Previews at http://myvirtualworkshop.blogspot.com

I am not alone in loving to look inside well-made garments and I can't wait to have a look at this!

[Sator]

Mmmm...nothing like a good dissection!

[tailoress]

Hee! I think I have all of these, except the Poulin, which I had but gave away because it was mostly menswear. I can't help myself when it comes to books... By the way, it's Allyne Bane, not Alan, and I believe he's a she!

[Sator]

Thanks for alerting me to the typo. I have fixed it up.

[posaune]

There is a new german book about patternmaking for ladies.

Bekleidung. Schnittkonstruktions für Damenmode
Bd. 1 Grundlagen
Author: Guido Hofenbitzer
Verlag: Europa Lehrmittel
Euro 48,--

It is based on the basic drafts from Mueller and from Optikon. So - no new system but less complicated. There are many examples in it and how to cut linings and facings. The sleeves chapter is a bit short but it is vol. 1.
I think it is very well done and very good for beginners and autodidacts. And the price is good
Lg
posaune

[posaune]

Another nice book about sewing a jacket:
Thomas von Nordheim
Vintage Couture Tailoring
http://www.amazon.co...m/dp/1847973736
It is a pity that the print is in gray and in 8 p letters
lg posaune

[posaune]

There is a very well written article from Jeffery Diduch in the journal: Threads # 167 July 2013
Title: The sleeve cap seam and the armsyce. He examines first the armhole and the sleeve-cap seams thoroughly, shows how to alter the armhole for a bigger bustdart, a smaller or a lower armhole, and how to correct the sleeve cap for this alteration, and last how to stay the armhole.
This article is a keeper.
lg
posaune
here is his work sheet
http://images.taunto...e_Worksheet.pdf

This post has been edited by posaune: 10 May 2013 - 04:07 PM