medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Ms B M Cook wrote:
> A somewhat belated contribution to an earlier thread about Lollard Tailors
> and "Scissorsmen". (Not called Edward, I hope :-) )
>
> (1) I have just remembered that the official professional journal of the
> British tailors is called "The Tailor and Cutter".
> From this I conclude that, although associates. the "tailor" and the
> "cutter" were - originally at anyrate - separate skills. (Like "carpenter
&
> joiner")
>
> The transclations of the "Scissorman" would therefore be "cutter" and not
> "cutler", the latter being someone who makes knives and spoons - and
forks,
> that is CUTLERY.
At the risk of boring one with detail, I consulted an 83 year-old man whose
parents worked in the rag trade and he replied:
"There is indeed a considerable difference between the functions of a
tailor and a cutter. When one goes to a good tailor you choose the
material and, possibly the lining, subject to his advice on the suitability
of the cloth and you are then measured. Any features common to the client
should be noted, e.g. arms which tend to "hang forward". These are passed
to the cutter who, in this case, cuts the cloth in such a manner that the
armholes are set forward on the axis.
Another important point: if the material is striped, or a check , the
cloth must be so cut that the stripes or the checks are continuous at the
seams. The quality of your tailor is readily judged by how accurate these
joins appear when the jacket is worn. I might add that precision such as
this necessitates a half-yard or even more cloth to produce this effect of
continuation.
An even better example is found among professional ballroom dancers who
wear tails when they compete. As you will have noticed, one arm is raised
and one is down around the waist, yet the shoulders of the coat don't lift
off the shoulders. This is all down to the cut. In an ordinary jacket
the shoulders would be canted from the left downwards to the right. In a
tail coat, cut for a dancer, the armholes are so formed that it would be
bordering on purgatory to wear it for anything other than the purpose for
which it was made. Suits are assembled after cutting by men or women who
specialise in one part of the suit only. For example, there was a "vest
hand" and an "officers' tailor", which implies tunics rather than jackets,
although I believe that they were that skilful they could both "cut" their
respective garments, apart from having a competence with jackets."
From this, it appears clear that a cutter is a specialist skill within the
tailoring trade.
John H Hall
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