The Half-Millimetre: On Handwork

Much of a fine jacket is sewn by machine, and rightly so — a straight seam is a straight seam. But certain things are still done by hand, because the hand can feel a half-millimetre the machine never will.

The armhole, set by hand, lets the sleeve move with the arm instead of dragging the whole jacket with it. The lapel, pad-stitched by hand, learns its roll over hundreds of tiny invisible stitches. The buttonhole, cut and sewn by hand, is the signature at the end of the sentence.

None of it announces itself. All of it is the reason the jacket feels alive on the body rather than merely correct.