BBC3 Young Tailor of the Year 2012 2 of 2

....continuing on from my previous post.


I also wanted to thank everyone involved in the filming of Young Tailor of the Year.  It was such a great experience.   For the final show we were all put into a hotel up in beautiful Suffolk for two days while it was filmed at a former United States Air Force base.  


It was a crazy, long, and stressful two days but everyone was so lovely,  all the production team and crew, and the other contestants and there friends and family, we all had such a good time.


One frustrating thing about getting knocked out first was that nobody got to see the jacket that I made.  In the last challenge Emma and Katie had to finish a jacket they had started prior by fitting the sleeves and top collar.  Of course not knowing which one of us was going to get through we all had to make a jacket to the same level.


About a week before the filming in suffolk we each went in turn to Richard Anderson's on Savile Row and was given an allotted time to measure up our models.  After taking a full set of measurements and being given a £200 budget for cloth we then had a week to design and make a jacket up to the point of setting the leaves and putting on the top collar.


I little side note that I want to bring up...in the finishing task on the show I was critised because I did a little bit of everything instead of following the correct process.  When for these jackets we had to do all the finishings and fastening before we put the sleeves in which is not the correct procedure.  So I thought that to be a little hypocritical.


Anyway during my fitting I discussed with Chris (my model)  the best look for him as I wanted to treat him like a customer.  This is one on the best parts of the job and one that I am probably best at, again shame you didn't get to see if.

Our brief was as follows:

'Your male model is due to attend a red carpet event, he wants a show stopping garment that will impress those in the style industry and the media. He is young and fashion conscious with an eye for the finer things in life. He usually appears in the ‘best dressed’ columns and is praised for having a real eye for detail.'

Mood/colour and client brief board

After talking with Chris about the syle and cut of clothing he wears I decided on a very slim fitting modern look with slender sleeves, nipped in at the waist and an almost cropped short style length.  Style wise I had been doing a project about the Tuxedo and how it was often made in Midnight blue because black can look dark green under artificial light.  So what did I do?  I asked myself whats wrong with it looking green?  I like green.  So a middle finger up to to midnight blue I shall make a green tuxedo.



I found some beautiful 9oz British racing green wool from the lovely people at Holland and Sherry on Savile Row. Together with black silk moire facings to give it a vintage traditional feel and matched with some skinny creased shinny black tonic trousers to bring it up to date. 

After getting the fabric and the design was done I now had one week to get to the necessary stage with only one fitting in-between.  One week, one fitting,  this was no easy task and I had not worked within this sort of time scale before and was a mean feet for anybody, but I wasn't about to give up.  I got into a quiet comfortable rythem at home and worked my socks off (metaphorically of course as I wear sock suspenders).  After drafting a pattern from Chris's measurements I cut and made up a first baste which I took back to Richard Andersons to do a first fitting.  I was glad when the jacket was almost perfect,  there was of course some minor changes that need to be made but that is the nature of the business.

Even though the fitting went well I still had a few days to get it ready.  I had to start by ripping down the first baste making it up to a straight finish with lining, pockets, detailing, fastings and finishings.

It was hard work but I did it.

So you can see my disappointment in that after all that I did not get through to the final two and this meant my jacket would not be on the show and considering the time scale it was made in, it is some of my best work, technically and design wise.

There is always a silver lining though (or in this case a purple with pearl white piped lining)

As not getting to finish the jacket while i was there, I was not going to go home empty handed so i decide to alter to jacket to fit myself.  Not a quick job but I wasn't going to let this beautiful jacket go to waste.

You can see I lined it with a amazing shot black and purple satin and lined the sleeves, pocket jets and piped the edge in pearl white.  I also used a wonderful ornate British East India Trading Company crest button and prick stitched the front edge in a lilac.

I used a purple and green cashmere to make a lower inside phone patch pocket.  Plus I used vintage check wools to line the inside facings of all the pockets.

As you can see I went all out on the jacket, I even made a bow-tie and pocket handkerchief to match the lining.  So here is the finished product.