Shirt makers in Boston?

[montecristo#4]

Yes, indeed it is.

Partly my poor ironing is to blame, but the shirt is not where it should be in terms of quality for the $175 or so I paid four years ago. Of course, at the time I really didn't know much better.

Note the poor pattern matching at the shoulders. Single yoke. Plastic buttons. Fit wasn't all that hot either. I do better by myself with Jantzen, although the fabric of this shirt is superior to anything Jantzen offers.

Just a note on Ayala -- he did not make these shirts, as he is not a shirtmaker. For suits, jackets, trousers and the like, his construction is quite good, with the exception of his button holes which are kind of sloppy.

Montecristo

 

[Shirtmaven]

The side seem is a single needle finish, just a larger flatter turn then some shirtmakers use. A dolube needle chain stitch machine is quite expensive and would not be used by a custom shirtmaker with small production.

There is nothing wrong with a single yoke. a split yoke is up there with a tail gusset in terms of details that add to a shirts quality.

Did Arthur do the measuring or Mr. Ayala?

Carl

 

[brescd01]

Shirtmaven, can you elaborate (or Montecristo)? If this is single needle tailoring, why the ridges? What is a double-needle chainstitch machine (and what would Alex say about this)? Was your ironing poor Montecristo, that is not how it appears? Would better ironing remove the ridges? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[montecristo#4]

Arthur did the measuring.

If I remember, there are two distinct rows of stitching, which I take to mean double needle. Looking at my photo, it looks like there is one row -- but I really remember two. My phot is horrible, though. I will check the shirt out tonight and see what is going on there.

Better ironing might get the wrinkles out, but that would require slightly more care and attention for me. My Jantzen shirts have one stitch and require minimal attention. No bumps there.

As for the single yoke, I have one shoulder which is somewhat obviously lower and rolls forward of the other. I was under the assumption that a split yoke would improve the fit of the shirt, better addressing that problem.

 

[Shirtmaven]

A single needle closing will have two rows of stitches on the inside of the shirt. Remember it takes two operations to close the shirt. A double needle close will have two rows of stiches on the outside and a 2 rows of chain stitching on the inside.

The photo is not great. But I can see that there is only one row of stiches on the outside. Montecristo may not have pulled the shirt taught when he was ironing. The fabric may have shrunk more then expected causing the slight puckering.

The correction for a low shoulder is the same on a single or split yoke. Unless your shoulders are seriously different then there is no reason to split the yoke.

 

[Concordia]

There is also a tailor (well, not really a tailor, but a designer who outsources to various tailors for bespoke suits) on the second floor of one of the buildings on the right hand side of the first block of Newbury. If you walk up that side of the street and peruse the second and third floor windows, you can't miss it. I went in there once and talked to the guy -- he seemed very informed and his offerings quite stylish. Expensive, though, if I recall correctly. Unfortunetely, I forget his name.

Montecristo

You might be thinking of Alan Rouleau.

Ordered a suit once from him in his downtown office, which was not a success.  The coatmaker who did the suit has since taken over that storefront under his own name.  I would guess that Rouleau is still operating on Newbury as before.

 

[montecristo#4]

Yes, I think it is Alan Rouleau that I was thinking of. Just checked the Ayala shirt BTW -- it is definitely single needle tailoring. However, the fold of the fabric at the edge is a bit wider than other single needle shirts I own, which might explain my mistake. Or, it could just be that I'm blind.

 

[Settecento]

Okay, here's a real, live update. It turns out that I live only 20 minutes from Arthur of BoLine Boutique. I visited him on Friday: he is Armenian, speaks fluent English, French, some Greek, some Turkish; his father was also a tailor.

He has beautiful fabrics and the model shirts looked very nice, with the most beautiful mother-of-pearl buttons I've ever seen. I ordered three shirts (the minimum) roughly based on my Hilditch & Key cutaways; the price was $200 a shirt, with delivery in 2-3 weeks. Completely custom-made by him. I'll let you know what they look like at the end of the month (he's about to go on vacation).

I didn't ask him about his possible association with the other tailor. He won "Best of Boston" for 2004, by the way. Here are the details:

495 Washington Street, Norwell MA 02061; tel. 781-659-5980; [email protected].

Good luck.

 

[Horace]

Okay, here's a real, live update.  It turns out that I live only 20 minutes from Arthur of BoLine Boutique.  I visited him on Friday: he is Armenian, speaks fluent English, French, some Greek, some Turkish; his father was also a tailor.

He has beautiful fabrics and the model shirts looked very nice, with the most beautiful mother-of-pearl buttons I've ever seen.  I ordered three shirts (the minimum) roughly based on my Hilditch & Key cutaways; the price was $200 a shirt, with delivery in 2-3 weeks.  Completely custom-made by him.  I'll let you know what they look like at the end of the month (he's about to go on vacation).  

I didn't ask him about his possible association with the other tailor.  He won "Best of Boston" for 2004, by the way.  Here are the details:

495 Washington Street, Norwell MA 02061; tel. 781-659-5980; [email protected].

Good luck.

That seems like a pretty reasonable price to me. And I know that area.

 

[montecristo#4]

Please do post pictures. Best of luck with your commission.

 

[brescd01]

Montecristo, first of all, the shirt looks fine and you ironed it well, I think.

But if single-needle tailoring creates these ridges, how is single-needle tailoring superior to double-needle tailoring?

 

[Shirtmaven]

Single needle is not better then a double needle chain stitch. It just looks nicer. A double needle chain stitch on the sleeve set is not good.

This shirt has a wider flatter single needle finish. I think Shirley at Mr. Harris also used a flatter finish. The advantage of the flatter turn is that you wont have as big a ridge under the arm where the sleeve and body are all joined together.

Carl

 

[norcaltransplant]

That seems like a pretty reasonable price to me.

Sadly, I was thinking the same. Â And then I was searching through Target today for saline solution, and came across the clothing section--"Dress shirts" for $19.99. Â Interesting contrast to our forum, where fabric costs at least $19.99/yd (wholesale). BTW, Carl thanks for all the informative posts. I'll be sure to visit the shop once I achieve gainful employment or if I hit the motherload on Ebay, the lottery, etc.

 

[brescd01]

I fail to see how single needle looks better than double-needle, if we take ridges out of the equation, which seem to occur in both types. By the way, I examined my Barba, Liste Rouge, Giam Paulo, Harris, and Jantzen shirts' side seams, and the nicest in my opinion were Shirley's, Carl. The nicest material is still in the Barbas and Giam Paulos. I can't compare collars because some have stays and some have the sewn-in type. The best fit is my second-itteration Jantzen and the RTW Giam Paulos are close.

 

[hls09]

did you ever get the shirts, settecento?