Customers are sometimes alarmed at their first fitting. The jacket has no collar, one sleeve, and is held together with long white stitches that look as if a child had sewn them. That is exactly how it should look.
Why baste at all
A pattern drawn from measurements is a good guess. It is not yet a fit. Basting lets us try the cloth on your body, see where it pulls and where it hangs, and then take the whole thing apart again.
What we look at
How the collar sits on your neck. Whether the back falls clean from the shoulders. How your arms hang when you stand naturally, which is never how they hang when you are being measured.
What happens next
The cutter chalks every change on the cloth while you wear it. After you leave, the jacket is unpicked, the pattern is corrected and the cloth is recut. The next fitting, the forward, is a much more finished garment.
A suit that is not basted is guessed. A suit that is basted is cut.
How long it takes
About forty minutes. Wear the shoes and the shirt you expect to wear with the suit, and bring anything you keep in your pockets.
