Scissors // Shears // Snips

Cutting is part of the tailoring jargon and we all understand exactly what we mean.

Cutting a suit.

Cutting a pattern.

“Now that is beautifully cut jacket.”

“This is the style of the house cut.”

A pattern cutter once asked me what were my favourite sounds. I replied, “I love the sound of the harp.”

“NO!” She said. “I mean the sounds of everyday objects.”

One of her favourite sounds were the crispy and crunchy clatter of cutting the paper patterns.

The tailoring shear is the essential tool to the trade. It’s an object so personal every tailor has their own and the first thing you acquire as an aspiring “cutter.” Make sure the scissor matches what works best for you. Sometimes when a cutter decides it’s time to retire, they will pass on their scissors to a young blood apprentice which will give these metal blades another lifetime in the trade.

My ideal length is 9” which brings me a perfect weight not too heavy nor too light.I love mine because they don’t exhaust my thumb even after a full day of work! When it’s time to go home I place them in their special cardboard box lined with velvet cuts to keep them safe on our journey.

Eventually the act of cutting slowly grows into part of our identity.

In the world of tailoring, you may begin as a “trimmer,” the person who prepares the collars, pocket bags and canvases to eventually move along the line to be an “under cutter.” The under cutter is assistant to the “head cutter,” the master of all the knowledge and tricks of the house, this is the most respected position in our line.

What you cut will also define how you cut.

Will your shears chop the hefty horse hair canvas as a trimmer? Or will they glide beautifully through the brown cardboard paper to create a bespoke pattern for a satisfied client? Perhaps they will snip quick and sharp the loose and long threads you left after sewing a perfect straight seam. Sometimes my scissors thump consecutively on the wooden tailoring board while my hands navigate them in the right direction collecting chalk from the shapes traced onto the cloth. Oh! At times I’m naughty with my scissors and sharpen my chalk on the side of my table although I know I should get up and walk to the trash bin but no one else knows but my scissors and I.

You just cannot have this relationship with a rotary cutter! Although it’s sharp and impressive with the quick and slick cuts; the art of cutting with a pair of scissors is a skill with love and deep appreciation.

This last year was the final year of my BA in Bespoke Tailoring. Ironically after ups, downs and turnarounds I founda a passion for "cutting" not the making. The fittings and the alterations for the patters to create the perfect fit for the happy costumer made sense after I "cut" a bespoke jacket to my body. After the three fittings and toiles, the moment the fitted jacket hugged my upperbody I then understood the beauty of bespoke tailoring. I understood the obsession of having a pattern. made specially for you and no one else in the world could ever fit in the jacket the way you do.

“Remember to never drop your shears,” we are told repeatedly by our experienced mentors. I personally learnt this lesson the hard way, a tragic fall altered forever my beautiful golden shears losing their balance and called for them to be retired. It was time to part ways after four consecutive years and many experimentations through all kinds of fabrics, from cottons to linens to silks to eventually my now favourites: the woollens. These scissors were my everyday tool to confront this new world of fashion and tailoring. But hey! It’s okay, although they have retired from the main event of the wools and cotton linings; they now have a new perfect function for cutting papers and cardboards.