Zaremba bespoke sport coat – second fitting

This is a second post from the series on my Zaremba bespoke sport coat project I am making with Maciej, owner of Zaremba Bespoke Tailoring. You can read the first part here.

Main differences between first and second fitting are that the sleeves are now cut and attached, as is the hand padded collar, size of the lapel has been agreed and the front of the jacket has been re-cut to get the shape much closer to single breasted jacket. In the back some adjustments have been made too. We tailored it a bit, taken the excess of the fabric from under the shoulder blades/back of the armhole and shorten the length just a bit as well. The tailor has also marked the position of both the front patch pockets and breast pocket. This allowed me to visualize the final product and also enabled me to make a better decision regarding the proportions again. We decided to go back to the previous length and stick to 72 cm, which is a standard length of all the other jackets I own, apart from Graham Brown suits jacket, which is 73 cm (longer British cut). You would not believe how much 1 cm can change in terms of appearance.

One of the advantages of the bespoke is the fact that you can quickly test how some aspects of the jacket look on you and either accept or adjust them without actually modifying the garment. We did that with the lapel size. I knew I wanted it to be wider than 8 cm but was not sure how wide exactly. Pinning it to size solved the problem. 10 cm turns out to be way too wide making the edge of the lapel to appear too close to the shoulder. 9 cm should work best and we agreed on that.

I am very happy with the way collar sits on the neck and how the shoulders fit me. Tailors had problems fitting the shoulders on me so this is a critical area. I have a pronounced and forward pinching shoulder which leave a gap between the lapel and shoulder pitch. It is a matter of cutting it with enough allowance for slope and pinch, which Zaremba did really well.

The thing to adjust was the sleeve pitch. You know what they say: men tend to stand up way to tight when they try their garments during fittings. Tailor’s job is then to make them relax and not pretend it is military parade. In my case the sleeve has to be rotated back a bit and also taken out in the front of the armhole –  hence the creases to the elbow visible on the photos. Maciej has got it marked all up.  The left sleeve fits better as the left arm is not as sloped as the right one.

One advice I would have for all of you. Never wear a wool turtle-neck for the fitting. I honestly could not put my arms through the sleeves, which at this stage are unlined. There was a friction between textured turtle-neck and the wool fabric of the jacket. Go for a normal dress shirt, even if you are not wearing a tie. It would be much more comfortable for you and easier for the tailor to fit the jacket.

Second fitting is also a time when you can select the type of finish on your jacket. On my Zaremba bespoke sport coat I went for single hand stitching. Looks like we have it all sorted now and I will meet Maciej in Warsaw again in mid-April. It is going to be technically the third fitting. The tailor is taking his time, as it is my first ever order with him.

I only want to say few things about the organization of the trip to Warsaw and the times of the fittings. Maciej knows I live in London and we schedule my visits with at least a month in advance. I usually arrive on Friday for 1st visit (together with the Head Cutter) and then come again on Sunday before the flight back (only with Maciej). This allows me to have two fittings within the weekend and do as much as possible in relatively short time. It is possible because not only Maciej comes to the workshop exclusively for me on Sunday but also his tailors work on Saturday to have the jacket ready on Sunday. That’s a big help and important aspect for all those living abroad. This is also a reason why Maciej is wearing denim, trainers and casual polo shirt on the photos ;).

Have a look at the rest of the photos below. As always, thanks for reading!

Photography: Andrzej Belina Brzozowski (belinabrzozowski.com)

Zaremba Bespoke Tailoring
Nowogrodzka 15
00-511 Warsaw
(+48) (22) 6284208
email: info@zarembabespoke.com
zaremba-krawiec.pl