This is a man's world.

The man (Mr Head Cutter) has abandoned ship for 10 days, and a well deserved holiday: having renamed the 23rd of May as the unforgettable ‘black Wednesday’, everything has been a slight uphill struggle since. Until now, when a sigh of relief can audibly be heard whistling through the cutting room. The absolute crux came on wednesday of this week, just before he disappeared, when the man came back from a fitting in the city slightly late for his next in-house fitting. As the client changed, Mr Head Cutter asked me to nip down to his office before running an errand for him. I walked into the (not very large) office not knowing what I’d find in there- I’ve seen much in that small space- but this time? A boris bike, taking pride of place in the middle of the floor. Having been unable to find a parking bay for it, he gave up and bought it back to work for me to return for him. And he says we need to work at being more eccentric…

When not practicing my trouser drafting this week, I’ve been having a look at different lays: morning coats, two sets of trousers and checks. The ‘lay’ is the order in which the pattern pieces are set so as to cut the cloth more practically and economically. There is a standard lay, used as a simple formula for a two piece suit. This, I have mastered. However, despite Mr Head Cutter’s teaching skills though, checks are still my nemesis- a real bugger. Lining up the stripe so that it runs straight down the chest and sleevehead while being economical with cloth is apparently a challenge too far for my brain. So I’ve taken to mapping them out when I have a spare moment- in a series of rather strange lines, dots and squiggles… Pictures to follow.

Yesterday was possibly the toughest day in my entire career to date. So much so that by the point it was going home time, Mr Head Cutter was at the bar nearest work with a bucket of beer. In a distressing combination of muddled couriers, missing trousers (the trouser maker had them, despite previous protestations that he didn’t), clients being uncontactable (or just not picking up their messages) and simple errors on my part.. The awful realisation dawns that these people are all human. I got shouted at for the first time. And I don’t mean a quick telling off, but a true bollocking. 

He calmed down in the afternoon, but his reason for screaming was justified, which almost makes it worse. He explained that this is why he finds employment so hard: handing over the responsibility of doing something yourself is just so impractical - losing control with the risk of someone ballsing up. Yesterday, it was me. 

Over a beer we discussed this, and the man’s very fair assessment is that the more responsibility you have, the more mistakes you CAN make. His only request? If you get yourself into shit, you’d sure as hell better get yourself out of it.

Thank god yesterday is over.

There I was, barefoot-ly prancing about behind the cutting board (if you’ve yet to draft a pattern barefoot- trust me, it is the most marvellous luxury. We are adding it to a list of contrived ‘eccentricities’ of the house. Others include hopscotching across the hall…) chatting nineteen to the dozen to Mr Head Cutter, when he paused. He had been drafting some trousers for a new client, but yesterday morning (as a test run, if you will) I had a first bash at it. As he paused, he put down his paper shears and stepped to my end of the board to check the run of the trouser from a greater distance (such long lines are often hard to check up close). We were then equally astounded as he picked up my topside piece and placed it on his: bar the change in hem width (he made an executive decision as he was drafting to narrow it). IT MATCHED. For weeks now (which seems like YEARS)my newly acquired trouser drafting skills have been tried, tested and mostly? Left quite a bit to be desired. But finally a hit! I got the joyous feeling that despite his surprise matching mine, he was equally happy.
The underside was still pretty questionable (let’s not even go there) but hey, it’s a START.

AWOL bosses, huge orders, and a crash course in trouser drafting while finishing the trouser making commission of nightmares has meant time hasn’t been on my side. Hopefully this is now changing! More to follow…

The blissful weather being short lived, I am readying myself for a long one- running wildly unsupervised while mr head cutter dashes off, I can only imagine how Raf Simons must feel having just been announced as new creative director at Dior: the fear of being in charge…
Dior seem to have struggled to fill Galliano’s rather anti Semitic boots, but it fills me with a comfort to think of Simons’ hard work paying off at last.
Give Dior the structure(d tailoring) it once owned, back!