Monday, May 11, 2009

tailor's egg?












The "tailor's egg" - well, that's what we call it. It is an egg shaped piece of wood, about 1 3/4" deep, about 12 to 13" wide at the widest point, 15 or 16" long and gently rounded and sanded smooth. Many of the tailor's here have one. One of the women here gets her father to make them up and offer them for sale every so often. I asked around and it seems to be one of those tools that no one can quite remember who started using it. I don't know if people use them anywhere else. They are useful for many things, but primarily we use them when basting chest canvases into jackets. I was originally taught to baste the chest canvas into the jacket front by holding it over my hand in order to allow the fabric to mold over the shape that the canvas provides. Most of the tailors here now use the tailor's egg instead of their hand underneath the jacket front when they baste the canvas in. I think it allows for a more controlled way of working especially for people who are just learning, but the senior tailors love them too.

7 comments:

  1. Thanks Terri for showing and describing a tailor's egg. I never seen one, but I understand why this is a very useful equipment to use for basting in a canvas. I do have an egg shaped pressing ham, see my blog post http://thesewingdivas.wordpress.com/2007/02/22/pressing-equipment/

    Can you please email me.

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  3. Where can I obtain a tailor's egg?

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    1. As I mention in teh post above, these are not items that are commercially available, but were made for us.
      If you know a local woodworker interested in creating one, that would be your best option.

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  4. I do not have access to a woodworker unfortunately. Thanks for the quick reply.

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    1. Well, there are many tools used for tailoring. A large ham can also be useful in this instance. I have made a large ham myself, using felt to build up a shape making a cover, and stuffing scrap cut up fabric to augment it.

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