Wool to Suit: The Complete Bespoke Tailoring Journey
The bespoke jacket hanging in your wardrobe represents centuries of tradition, countless hours of skilled labour, and a remarkable journey that begins in pastoral fields with grazing sheep. Understanding this process deepens appreciation for the craftsmanship behind every hand-tailored garment.
Stage 1: Shearing the Sheep
The journey begins with shearing, typically performed once annually in spring. Skilled shearers remove the fleece in one complete piece, working carefully to avoid injuring the animal or damaging the wool. A single sheep produces approximately 3-4 kilograms of raw fleece, though this varies by breed.
The finest wool comes from Merino sheep, prized for its softness and fineness, whilst British breeds like Cheviot and Shetland produce hardier fibres ideal for outerwear. The fleece quality depends on the sheep's diet, environment, and care throughout the year.
Stage 2: Sorting and Grading
Once shorn, the fleece undergoes meticulous sorting. Skilled graders separate the wool by quality, as different parts of the fleece vary significantly. The finest fibres come from the shoulders and sides, whilst coarser wool from the legs serves different purposes.
Graders assess each section for:
- Fibre diameter and length
- Colour consistency
- Contamination levels
- Crimp and elasticity
This sorting determines the wool's ultimate use and value.
Stage 3: Scouring and Cleaning
Raw wool contains lanolin, dirt, and vegetable matter that must be removed. The scouring process involves washing the fleece in a series of baths with detergent and water at carefully controlled temperatures.
This stage removes up to 50% of the fleece's weight in impurities. The recovered lanolin finds new life in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, ensuring nothing goes to waste.
Stage 4: Carding and Combing
Clean wool fibres lie in tangled masses and must be aligned for spinning. Carding uses fine wire brushes to separate and straighten the fibres, creating a web-like sheet that's then formed into rope-like slivers.
For the finest worsted fabrics used in tailoring, an additional combing process removes shorter fibres, leaving only the longest, straightest strands. This produces the smooth, durable cloth essential for quality suiting.
Stage 5: Spinning the Yarn
The aligned fibres are now ready for spinning, where they're twisted together to create yarn. The degree of twist affects the yarn's characteristics—tighter twists produce harder, more durable yarns, whilst looser twists create softer, more flexible threads.
Modern mills use sophisticated machinery, but the principles remain unchanged from centuries past. The yarn's thickness, or count, is precisely controlled to meet specifications for different fabric weights.
Stage 6: Weaving the Cloth
Woven fabric forms when warp threads (running lengthwise) interlace with weft threads (running crosswise). Different weaving patterns create distinct characteristics:
Plain weave produces durable, balanced fabric with a simple over-under pattern.
Twill weave creates diagonal lines and drapes beautifully, making it ideal for suiting.
Herringbone and houndstooth patterns add visual interest through varied weaving sequences.
Renowned mills like Loro Piana, Vitale Barberis Canonico, and Huddersfield Fine Worsteds have perfected these techniques over generations, producing the exceptional fabrics we select for our clients.
Stage 7: Finishing the Fabric
Raw woven cloth requires finishing to achieve its final character. This may include:
- Fulling: Controlled shrinking that tightens the weave
- Pressing: Creating the fabric's surface texture
- Dyeing: Adding colour whilst maintaining fibre integrity
- Brushing or shearing: Refining the surface finish
Each mill guards its finishing techniques as closely held secrets, contributing to their fabrics' distinctive qualities.
Stage 8: Pattern Cutting for Your Bespoke Jacket
Now the true artistry of bespoke tailoring begins. Unlike ready-to-wear garments made from standardised patterns, your bespoke jacket starts with measurements unique to your body.
Taking Measurements
Whether through our AI-powered contactless measurement app or traditional in-showroom measuring, we capture between 30 & 40 individual measurements. These account for shoulder slope, posture, arm length differences, and body asymmetries that make you uniquely you.
Drafting the Individual Pattern
Using your measurements, our master cutter drafts a paper pattern entirely from scratch. This pattern exists for you alone and will never be used for another client.
The process requires years of training and experience. The cutter must account for:
- Fabric characteristics and behaviour
- Desired style and silhouette
- Ease allowances for movement and comfort
- Seam allowances and construction methods
Each pattern piece—front panels, back, sleeves, collar, facings—is carefully drawn, considering how the fabric will drape and how the finished garment will move with your body.
Cutting the Cloth
With pattern complete, the fabric is laid out and each piece is hand-cut with precision shears. The cutter pays careful attention to grain direction, pattern matching, and fabric nap, ensuring every element aligns perfectly.
This stage cannot be rushed. A single miscalculation could compromise the entire garment.
The Journey Continues
From here, your jacket moves to our tailors' skilled hands for assembly, multiple fittings, and finishing—but that's another story. The journey from fleece to pattern represents months of work by specialists across multiple disciplines, each contributing expertise honed over lifetimes.
When you wear your bespoke jacket, you're not simply wearing clothing. You're wearing the culmination of an extraordinary journey that connects pastoral tradition with cutting-edge technology, master craftsmanship with individual expression.
This is the essence of true bespoke tailoring—honoring every stage of the process to create something genuinely exceptional, made exclusively for you.
Ready to begin your own bespoke journey? Contact A Hand Tailored Suit to discuss your perfect jacket, crafted with the same care and attention that's gone into every stage from sheep to showroom.
"PEOPLE WILL STARE. MAKE IT WORTH THEIR WHILE" - HARRY WINSTON -
A Hand Tailored Suit, the bespoke tailoring company offering you a slice of London’s Savile Row, for a cut of the cost.
If you have a special event or wedding to attend, an autumn gathering, or a cozy office fall celebration, we can create a unique bespoke ensemble just for you. From hand-crafted wool and tweed jackets to custom shirts, corduroy pieces, and merino wool tailored trousers perfect for the season’s crisp air.
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You can either design online or book in with one of our talented tailoring team. All garments are hand-made to fit your unique body pattern & size.