Unfunded Liabilities: a/k/a The Cloth Thread

[Manton]

PART IV: Linens

12 ounce (maybe 11) or so "natural" linen. A little darker than cream, a little lighter than tan:

9 ounce (or so) blue. The color doesn't come through to well. It's lighter than navy, and duller, more "slatey" and less purplish, than it looks in the pics:

8 ounce "handkerchief" linen, olive:

My absolute favorite, 14 ounce light, light gray:

 

[whacked]

Originally Posted by dopey

Listen to you rationalizing. Get help, man.

Don't we all?

 

[unpainted huffheinz]

How are you storing the cloth for the long term?

 

[Manton]

In bags, in a cedar closet in my attic.

 

[Roger]

Originally Posted by Manton

3x3 means that yarns in both directions -- warp and weft -- are three ply. That is, each individual yarn used in the actual weaving is actually three twisted together. Sometimes it will say on the selvage. If in doubt, take some yarns from the cut end and carefully untwist them. If you can unravel one into three, in both directions, then it's 3x3.
Thanks, Manton. What are the advantages of this over 2 X 2? Presumably durability, but aesthetic ones too?

 

[A Y]

Now I don't feel so bad. I only have three cloths waiting at my tailor's: the triple-check, gray glen plaid and brown glen plaid.

--Andre

 

[Grammaton Cleric]

The stuff is nice but what really is the point in buying all this fabric? Bespoke tailors often offer nothing more than a small discount if you provide your own fabric and I have always been more than satisfied with what I've found in the books.

If you're using Raphael in NYC (as you said you are), what is the point - does he provide big discount for CMT? Maybe I am missing something.

 

[Manton]

Originally Posted by Roger

Thanks, Manton. What are the advantages of this over 2 X 2? Presumably durability, but aesthetic ones too?

The weave will generally be a little rougher and less fine. But the main thing is that it will wear better. It's a godsend for lightweight and/or porous fabrics.

 

[A Y]

At least three of the cloths posted are pretty unique and are limited editions.

--Andre

 

[Grammaton Cleric]

Originally Posted by Andre Yew

At least three of the cloths posted are pretty unique and are limited editions.

--Andre

Yes, but the vast majority are not.

 

[Manton]

Originally Posted by Grammaton Cleric

what really is the point in buying all this fabric?

Well, on the one hand I agree with you. It is a lot of cloth, and it will take eons to make.

I do sometimes save a bit of money, though not a lot. The real reason I bought nearly every piece because it was something I wanted to have, and had never seen it in the books. Every piece up there is, if not necessarily unique, at least rare in some way or other.

 

[Grammaton Cleric]

Originally Posted by Manton

Well, on the one hand I agree with you. It is a lot cloth, and it will take eons to make.

I do sometimes save a bit of money, though not a lot. The real reason I bought nearly every piece because it was something I wanted to have, and had never seen it in the books. Every piece up there is, if not necessarily unique, at least rare in some way or other.

Gotcha. Some of the pics looked standard to me but, then again, a computer monitor often does not show all.

 

[Manton]

Donkey flannel: totally unique color, not in any current books.

Dove gray w/f: if not unique, then at least the best of its kind I have seen. And I don't know that it is available in any current book.

Blue triple check: a one-off exclusive.

Charcoal chalk: common enough, but I got a good deal on that and succumbed. Plus it's made by a mill I like that does not sell much over here.

Brown plaid w/blue: probably still available, but it's from a book that is running out and that I know will not be remade.

Brown plaid w/red: one-off exclusive.

Brown 3x3 worsted: totally unique.

The three sharks: I could get something like them from the books, but the light one is better than other light sharks I have seen, and the darker ones are just killer quality.

The blue w/royal nailhead and silk: totally unique.

The gab: English gab is getting harder to find; the Italians have taken it over. Plus, Burma shade is something I had thought was all in the past until I found that.

Triple dot nailhead: I've seen that pattern, and that color, but never together in one cloth.

Nailhead fresco: the only ones I know in current books are in Crispaire, and I don't like that book.

The tan 3x3 window: totally unique.

The mohairs: all rare and all gone.

First linen: I've seen tan, and I've seen cream, but not this. This I like better.

Ditto on the blue: it's not quite so dark as a true navy. I think linen is better in this color.

The olive I could have gotten anywhere, but that was cheap for good linen.

And the gray -- I don't know where to get that. Not in the three good linen books: H&S, Drapers, or W. Bill.

And, finally, some day the makers of all this kind of stiff are going to go out of business. No joke. When that happens, I will be glad I have this stuff.

 

[unpainted huffheinz]

Are you finding all of these in NYC (Tip Top, etc) or through traveling? I am guessing none of them are ordered online.

 

[Manton]

Most through Tip Top. They comb through European closeouts so I don't have to!