https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/03/27/the-language-of-tailors-i/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Mon, 27 Mar 2023 20:34:32 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/03/27/the-language-of-tailors-i/#comment-1505337 Mon, 27 Mar 2023 20:34:32 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=195219#comment-1505337 Lots of fab new phrases to use but I was surprised to see that schmutter refers to poor cloth. Robert Elms often refers to liking a bit of schmutter on Radio London and as he is such a snappy dresser I had always assumed it was referring to something of good quality!

]]> https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/03/27/the-language-of-tailors-i/#comment-1505304 Mon, 27 Mar 2023 15:33:19 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=195219#comment-1505304 I have been sewing for 70 years and my aunt was a tailor…..but I learned the meaning of many words from this post. I did think the word “mangle” referred to an automatic ironing machine that was used in laundries. Someone sits in front of the machine and places the object to be ironed onto a padded cylinder and lowers a curved, heated metal plate onto the cylinder pressing the object. There were flat ones and the curved version…

]]> https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/03/27/the-language-of-tailors-i/#comment-1505288 Mon, 27 Mar 2023 09:55:34 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=195219#comment-1505288 Some great old expressions there. I still call people ‘auld codgers’ and ‘a bit of bunce’ was oft used back in the day. A new one though is ‘on the cod.’ Excellent and i shall utilise it immediately as i nip off down the pub for a swifty.

]]> https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/03/27/the-language-of-tailors-i/#comment-1505286 Mon, 27 Mar 2023 09:29:16 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=195219#comment-1505286 Fascinating terminology! I still have my mother’s old manual sewing machine which is inlaid with mother-of-pearl. I no longer use it, but still very much treasure it.

]]> https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/03/27/the-language-of-tailors-i/#comment-1505285 Mon, 27 Mar 2023 09:27:28 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=195219#comment-1505285 Thank you for this list of very specific vocabulary. Being a translator, I love words, and these are great.

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