"How long do you think it will take?" the stooped bespectacled partner of my sifu asked. "One year?"
"Longer," replied my sifu. They were talking about how long my apprenticeship will last.
The first task given to me was sewing long seams. "In tailoring, you have to use technique to compensate for the shortcomings of equipment and materials," remarked my sifu. "The feed mechanism of the sewing machine causes the two pieces of cloth to have different lengths once sewn up. That's why you have to keep the bottom piece taut and the top piece easy." So that's what's causing all my machine sewing woes.
By my seventh long seam, I asked him if it's OK to put this much tension on the cloth while I sew. "You have to develop your own technique. Everyone does it differently. Everyone eventually finds their own way of doing it."
Controlling the speed of an industrial sewing machine is extremely tricky. Everything about it is optimized for the professional sewer. I imagine it's like trying to drive a F1 car.
After lunch, he showed me how to make "lei toi", the inner jacket pockets. I watched in amazement as he made one in 5 minutes or so, may God have mercy upon me.
By the time I left at 4:30 p.m. I have made 3 welted inner pockets, and all three were wretched. I have come to the conclusion that I cannot make these pockets with his technique. I need more "scaffolding" -- some basting stitches to hold pieces together instead of three pieces of cloth held together merely by the pressure of a fingertip, use of glass-head pins to position cloth, use of chalkmarks to help me feed them accurately through the F1 machine, etc. The sifu uses almost no chalk marks. He uses no pins. He even echews the ruler. Everything is by sight and feel. The guy is crazy.
"Longer," replied my sifu. They were talking about how long my apprenticeship will last.
The first task given to me was sewing long seams. "In tailoring, you have to use technique to compensate for the shortcomings of equipment and materials," remarked my sifu. "The feed mechanism of the sewing machine causes the two pieces of cloth to have different lengths once sewn up. That's why you have to keep the bottom piece taut and the top piece easy." So that's what's causing all my machine sewing woes.
By my seventh long seam, I asked him if it's OK to put this much tension on the cloth while I sew. "You have to develop your own technique. Everyone does it differently. Everyone eventually finds their own way of doing it."
(The machine I used today)
Controlling the speed of an industrial sewing machine is extremely tricky. Everything about it is optimized for the professional sewer. I imagine it's like trying to drive a F1 car.
After lunch, he showed me how to make "lei toi", the inner jacket pockets. I watched in amazement as he made one in 5 minutes or so, may God have mercy upon me.
(The other full-time apprentice. He always gets scolded by the sifu.)
By the time I left at 4:30 p.m. I have made 3 welted inner pockets, and all three were wretched. I have come to the conclusion that I cannot make these pockets with his technique. I need more "scaffolding" -- some basting stitches to hold pieces together instead of three pieces of cloth held together merely by the pressure of a fingertip, use of glass-head pins to position cloth, use of chalkmarks to help me feed them accurately through the F1 machine, etc. The sifu uses almost no chalk marks. He uses no pins. He even echews the ruler. Everything is by sight and feel. The guy is crazy.
BTW it is clear the sifu is a wonderful teacher. This first session was really good.
A healthy start.
ReplyDeleteI am curious though. What did you wear on your first day, and what about the sifu?
I wore my usual casual outfit. Today, it was a linen short sleeve shirt and a pair of bespoke linen trousers. Suede shoes. Filson duffel to contain the equipment and materials.
ReplyDeleteSifu was in some uncle polo and short pants and slippers. Typical Chinese uncle. Wife wasn't dressed much better.
Throughout the day various "cutters" (the sort of people customers interact with) came in with jobs. They are dressed much more sharply and well groomed. "I need this by Tuesday evening!" one said.
I have come to the conclusion that most "cutters" are just salespeople. This is obvious from the jackets that come back after a fitting session. They have no clue how to fit. Everything is left to the coatmaker to correct. One "cutter" is so incapable he just takes pics of the customer and prints them out and send them with the jacket to the coatmaker. The coatmaker then has to decipher the fitting flaws based on the pics. Dude, even I can be a "cutter" this way.
I think the 'other' apprentice is no match in the grooming department then.
ReplyDeleteAnd to think that these 'cutters' charge exorbitant fee for items they outsourced to third party coatmaker like the sifu.
Poor 'photographed' customer is taken for a ride. Or probably just a low priced job.