Ultimate Tennant Suit - FINISHED!

Yippeeeee!!

After several weeks sewing – a year gathering trousers – a couple of years knowing the fabric originated from GAP – the day has finally dawned when The Ultimate Tennant Suit is FINISHED!!!!

I can’t hide that I am pretty cuffed about how well it has come out. I have spent a lot of time researching and studying the suit, as well as testing how to make it, all of which appears to have paid off.

Here are some detail pictures of the completed jacket.

Ten Trousers part two - making the backs

Having successfully finished the fronts of the trousers, it’s time to turn attention to the backs.

Back fitting

First thing I need to do is put some reinforcing interface around the areas that will be sewn. These are around the back pockets and a small fitting dart that goes between the pockets and the waistband.

Looking closely at the GAP trousers I find they did this in one piece, so I copy the shape and cut my interface in a similar way (see right). Because the interface does not cover the entire area of the fabric I am stiffening, the edges are cut with pinking shears to avoid a line being visible from the right-side of the finished trousers.

I then iron the interfacing in place and sew the darts (see above left). I don’t bother to trim the seam allowance of the darts because they are so small and it may only weaken the trousers. I press the darts flat from the right-side (see above right).

Back Pockets

I am now ready to do the back welted pockets. Setting welted pockets like these has become a regular thing for me, but this time I need pay a little more attention to detail; the welts are a little finer; the pinstripes means cutting needs to be more precise; and because the trousers are not fully lined, the pocket bags will be exposed and will need to be much neater and have no exposed raw edges.

I have extensively covered welted pockets before when I was making my Calico Tennant Coat, the Alcantara Tennant Coat and Six Trousers, so I will skim over a few things and try to focus on only the unique aspects of these pockets in this entry.

The pieces I prepare are two interfaced welts, folded and pressed in half; one interfaced pocket facing; and a button loop made from pinstripe fabric (see left). I have carefully cut and pressed these so pinstripes will be visible on each.

I then mark the position of the pocket (see below left) and sew the welts on the right-side, flipped upside-down (see below right).

I then cut between the two welts (see above left) and snip to the ends of the stitching in a Y shape at each end (see above right).

Ten trousers part one - cutting and fronts

At last, the day is here when I start cutting the JoAnn fabric (see right) and begin making my suit!

I got the fabric from the US through the kind help of Bob Mitsch, who managed to track down the last few remnants of the fabric on behalf of a number of cosplayers. Thanks Bob!

Looking back a few months I would have been terrified to start cutting the trousers, but now I feel I have gained enough experience and knowledge to do them with confidence.

I will break the entries for the trousers into three parts:

Part 1 - cutting and making the fronts

Part 2 - making the backs

Part 3 - sewing the legs and waistband

So,

Part 1 - cutting and making the fronts

I am doing the trousers based on the lifted pattern from the GAP trousers, and plan to follow this as close as possible.

I bought a pair which were the same cut as the screen used trousers and are a perfect fit for me (see right). This means I don’t need to adapt or change the pattern, aside from a couple of real minor tweaks.

I carefully took the trousers apart, making a few notes as I went.

I only took apart the unique pieces, such as the fly; one front pocket; one front and back and the waistband. I kept one front pocket and one back pocket fully intact as reference.

I then made a paper pattern from the fabric pieces (see left).

Six plus Ten equals Five

I am slowly working towards making my trousers for my suit, and gaining experience at each stage.

I have come up with a game plan to get me to the Tennant Trousers I need to make:

STAGE ONE - done

The Six Trousers were an exercise in following a commercial pattern and so I learnt the basic techniques, having never made any before. The cut was very loose, so quite forgiving if I got it a little wrong. I did a button fly, as I am a dab-hand at buttonholes and didn’t want to get distracted at this stage with learning how to set a zip.

STAGE TWO - done

The GAP Trousers I bought and have deconstructed have given me the definitive pattern I need to work to. I have copied the pattern and studied how they go together, thought I need practice setting a zip fly.

STAGE THREE - current project

The Five Trousers need to follow the same pattern as the Six Trousers, although the legs need to be more tailored, like the GAP straight-cut. I will therefore use the top part of the Six trousers, and blend them into the legs of the GAP pattern.

STAGE FOUR - the final goal

Tennant Trousers. Once I have completed all the above I will be skilled and ready to make the real deal, working to the pattern of the GAP straight-cut trousers I bought, using the Jo-Ann fabric.

Mind the GAP

I have now formed a game plan for getting my Tennant Suit trousers made!

I have already learnt the basics for making trousers by making a pair of Six Trousers (see left), which was certainly a worthwhile exercise. They were made to a Laughing Moon Mercantile pattern and the cut was quite loose, so very forgiving if I was a bit out with the fit.

The result was not a perfect screen-accurate garment (the real thing should have a plain waist band, not a V-split; there shouldn’t be the back brace; the real thing does not have back pockets), but the exercise was in following a pattern designed by someone else, and learning the skills and principles of how trousers are formed.

In the meantime I have positively identified the originating trousers for the Tennant Suit as coming from GAP (see right). Full details can be found in Revelation of the Trousers.

Finding these opens a wealth of possibilities, not to say a few dilemmas.

I could track down a pair in my size, meaning I wouldn’t need to make my own - but then I wouldn’t have a matching jacket. The only way round that would be to find more pairs of the trousers and deconstruct them to make the jacket, in the same way Louise Page’s costume department had to do for the original suit.

That could take a long time and I would need to find the largest sizes possible to give me as much width of fabric to make the jacket.

On the other hand, I now know the fashion house (so to speak!) that made the trousers, and since it is a major high street retailer it would seem probable that they still use the same basic pattern for the trousers, though using different fabrics.

According to the label, the Tennant Trousers are a “Straight Cut” a (see left).

With that in mind I went to Oxford Street and the GAP store there to take a look.