We will be writing about an eclectic range of topics covering everything from clothing to anthropology to sports to travel.
Some articles that we are working on:
Thai open air markets, and a series of articles about neckties, by David Hober and friends.
Please let us know if you have suggestions or perhaps an article that you would like to write?
This is the first in a series of articles about tie construction.
Seven-fold ties are a type of necktie construction made popular in the 1980s by Robert Talbott in Monterey, California. Talbott was a man who loved ties and was great at public relations.
He claimed to have rediscovered the construction which was once popular before the great depression. His story was made even more colorful by describing how he found two old ladies in retirement who had made 7-fold ties a long time ago.
In 2006 I asked Richard S. a retired necktie maker and amateur tie historian his thoughts.
"I've seen ad's from early 1930's magazine's showing the Seven-Fold ties. One such shop which also sold dress shirts and other haberdashery was "Wilson Brothers Haberdashery" from Chicago, Illinois"
Necktie aficionado "Decline and Fall" found illustrated advertisements of 7-fold ties from 1935 to 1938 in the New York Times from Bloomingdales, Saks Fifth Avenue, Weber and Heilbroner, Rogers Peet, John Wanamaker, Stein Bloch & Macys.
The prices ranged from $.85 at Wanamakers to $4.94 at Macys.
In December of 2006 Mariano Rubinacci was asked by Matt S. about unlined seven-folds and he said that he remembered selling the 7-folds like Talbott makes in the 50s as a kid, but thinks that they changed sometime in the 60s.
He gave two reasons:
1. The unlined 7 folds twist too much for his taste
2. Many of the great tie makers stopped making ties. Apparently a lot of the old ties were made by nuns for the various shops and they stopped doing so.
So now we have sightings from 1930s in America and the 1950s in Naples. Also stores in France continued to sell unlined 7-fold ties.
Is it possible that the unlined 7-fold construction never really died out at all?
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Classic "American" Seven-Fold Necktie Pattern To make your own pattern you simply adjust the length and width and you are all set. You do not need to purchase a pattern. Note the diagonal center line, this is where you join the two pieces of silk together. It is a sartorial myth that 7-folds are only made from one piece of silk. The tips of both ends of the tie are folded over and hand sewn into place. The tie keeper should be sewn into the tie. No interlining is needed for this construction. For some practical tips on tie construction please see this link: Please note that time does not allow us to answer individual questions on tie construction.
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Another variation is the "Italian" style which is actually a lined 6-fold tie. Often Italian 6-folds will be incorrectly referred to as 7-folds. Most likely this was an innocent mistake made in the late 1980s by a number of Italian tie makers.
Lined 6-fold ties tend to drape better, wrinkle less and make fuller knots - with all the elegance and artisanal craftsmanship of the unlined 7-fold.
The story that seven-fold construction was the original method of tie making is a wonderful story but is a sartorial myth.
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This is an example of the unlined seven-fold ties that Sam Hober makes. Note the hand sewn edges of both the large and small tips. The keeper is sewn into the center of the tie so that it will stay in place for years. If you look carefully you will see the slip stitch which is used to sew the back of the tie closed. |
Samantha 'Sam' Hober and I have something in common - we both like elephants. Sam fed JoJo a baby elephant sugar cane in an open air Thai market when she was 2 an exciting event that she has not forgotten.
I once helped an Indian elephant that was purchased by the Hare Krishna’s from a bankrupt circus and then rescued by a sanctuary when they failed to feed it.
I simply arrived on scene with 5 bales of alfalfa for my horses and a bag of ripe cantaloupe melons.
Years later I got to see 'my' elephant and they truly never forget; the greeting was one of immense pleasure for us both.
But sadly, most of my elephant adventures are the less lively finding of the fossils of ancient California Mammoths. I get called because people think archaeologists dig up dinosaurs.
Mammoths do fall in our study when hunted by ancient people. The last one was discovered in the bottom of an excavation for a swimming pool. I'm not sure what Sam will make of me years from now trying to explain I found a prehistoric mammoth in a southern California swimming pool!
For now I found a marvelous web site www.elephantcountryweb.com/Ellies3.html
The elephant stories section has something for our Sam's and others for grownups to ponder.
The Cutter and Tailor forum is just what it sounds like a very, very serious new web site on clothes.
Sator (the nom de plume of the site's creator) is a gentleman with a formal academic background who loves clothes and believes in a solid research based approach to discussing clothing style and construction.
This is in sharp contrast to the more emotional popular clothing forums where socializing is often on a par with clothing discussion.
Whimsy is in a short supply but if you are looking for a fact based source of knowledge on for example how much shirt should show under a man's jacket sleeve you will have arrived in the correct place.
A popular sartorial myth is that 1/2 inch should show to see the truth visit this link:
http://www.cutterandtailor.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=44&hl=sleeve+length
So in summary if you want to laugh and have fun talking about clothes and their construction The Cutter and Tailor forum may not be for you.
On the other hand if you are a very serious aficionado of clothes or in the trade this is the best web site that I have seen and the only one that is so refreshingly based on facts.
I know that I have book marked it.
Rated: 9 out of 10 rolls of silk
Note: I give the web site a perfect score for editorial vision, creative vision and content.
My cat Piewacket is a devoted friend and family member.
3 years ago I rescued him as an abandoned kitten on a horse ranch seconds from being stomped to death by a horse.
He was a perfect match for my gray herringbone Harris tweed jacket, and male.
A dime a dozen, a troublesome future Tom. No, I'd find somebody to take him.
'Pie' has slept to the left of my head ever since.
He has a rather inconvenient feeding schedule, persistently worrying my wrist with firm bites @ 4 A.M. until I rise and open a can of one of two basic flavors ( chicken or beef.) He won't touch any of the exotic chopped, gravied, mixed or other meats. No, Pie is a basic 'meat and potatoes' kind of guy.
I couldn't find the sack of food I bought only yesterday. A thorough search and I knew the sad truth.
For the second time I had inadvertently thrown it out with the rest of the household trash.
Disaster!
So I dressed, walked outside to a magnificent moon, dodging the skunk family, opossums, raccoons and the twin yellow eyes of a coyote.
I was lucky, only a thin layer of refuse lined the dumpster and I could see one of my sacks by flashlight.
Now it gets difficult. To reach the sacks, I have to balance my waist on the steel edge and replicate some ancient Greek’s comment about moving the world.
Only at 55 it's more of not injuring body parts I insulted at 25 when I was young and would live forever.
It took several bobbings, like a diver coming up for air as I grabbed one wrong sack after another.
And then success! I even mumbled the Jesus prayer as the attractive young Nurse walked past, first worried about this disheveled male and then on recognition giving a look of abject pity. I could only mumble 'Good morning! I threw my cat food out by mistake yesterday' - as futile an explanation as any I've tendered a woman in my life.
Once back inside Pie rubbed against my legs and meowed. I triumphantly opened a can.
Pie took one small bite and went back to bed.
So I brewed some tea and turned on the radio. I picked up an Eastern Orthodox program for our Easter calendar correctly one week later than everybody else.
Russian monks from Saint Valaam's chanted, Pie rolled over on his stomach, content food was there at his convenience.
My signed photo of his Holiness, the Dalai Lama smiled down on me next to the icons of Saint Hermann of Alaska and Saint Irene Crysovolantu.
I finally understood the rational for rising early for prayer. It's as much service for others as oneself , if 'only' for a cat.
