Many of the old texts refer to soap, or "soaping up". This appears usually in the context of setting creases. For example in Delafera's The Art of Garment Making it's used in reference to creasing the quilting lines in silk facings of smoking jackets.
I have struggled to find much contemporary discussion of tailors soap. It is sold by The Lining Company, and the Caffeinated Tailor on YouTube uses soap (a generic brand Lagarto) when making up waistbands. Is this something others have experimented with and is it still relevant in today's tailoring?
My first intro to soap on a crease was in the Army Reserve. I used actual soap "imperial leather". But that's what it's for, holding a crease for longer.
Don't remember. But, I think it was used as a glue. I think it can wash out easy, if you want to change something.
The old trousers didn't have any creases down the front and back. If you use it for trouser creases will it have a negative effect on the dye?
A couple of dabs on a cloth and then pressed onto another would temporarily hold them.
Maybe it is not used anymore for good reasons.
Do you apply this to the inside of the crease ort the outside...?
I work wiht a lot of very heavy cloth and getting creases that stay is a big problem. I have just bought 102m of varius hand woven Harris Tweed roll ends and it it LOVELY but the crease lasts about 4 hours...
Hi Daniel,
Great question.
I actually first came across this before entering into the tailoring trade.
At seventeen, I volunteered for the Army Reserve. Back then, we wore an olive green uniform similar to the US design during the Vietnam War.
A tip we were given by our Company Sargent was to rub soap down the centre crease line of our trousers so that it would hold a finer crease.
It wasn't until I joined the tailor industry that I came across tailors soap, which was used for the same purpose.
Saying that, I knew no one who still used soap. With the introduction of heavy steam irons and vaccum pressing tables, soap didn't seem relevant anymore.
However, I do have some soap under my board that I pull out anytime I am dealing with a particularly heavy cloth or when pressing my army uniform.
It's the same one that The lining company sells.