I recently commissioned my third single-breasted suit from my tailor*. At this stage my pattern for a single-breasted jacket is pretty much cemented. The balance works well, the sleeves have been adjusted to just the right length and small issues like the height of the waist button have been ironed out.

So it makes sense to speed the process up. At the moment I effectively have three fittings: basted, forward and final. As I always end up having something small changed when the suit is completed (such as the sleeve length or trouser waist) the final appointment is effectively a fitting.

The choice is basically to skip either the basted or forward fitting. If I skipped the basted, the cutter could send the cloth to the jacket-maker immediately, without having to wait for me to come in for a fitting. It would also save the time it takes for the jacket to be basted (say half a day).

If I skipped the forward fitting, the jacket maker would not have to send back his work at all, so the time saved would be slightly greater: no time waiting for me plus no lost time in couriering the jacket (twice).

Really though, the choice comes down to whether I am more confident in the fit of my jackets or in their design. The basted fitting is mostly about balance – it is the tailor’s biggest opportunity to get the figuration right and re-cut the cloth if anything is wrong. The forward fitting helps in this too, but it is mostly about me seeing the design in its near-finished form. It is not too late to alter the button positions or the roll of the lapel, or to spot any mistakes.

I’m not bad at designing suits, but my tailor is a lot better at fitting them. I’ve designed a dozen or so, he’s cut hundreds. So I plan to skip the basted fitting from now on. The jacket maker won’t like it, as he’ll have to pause in his work halfway, but better that than a botched design.

* A three-button, single-breasted model with patch pockets, turn-back cuffs and a collar tab; in mid-grey, nine-ounce Minnis flannel. The patch pockets have an outside welt that matches the depth of the cuffs and of the welt on the breast pocket (non-patch). Buttons will be whisky-coloured horn.

Due to popular demand (well, three people) here are some more facts about how the Turnbull & Asser shirts are made up in Gloucester. I know how much you love those little details.

- As with a suit, the sleevehead of the shirt is slightly bigger than the armhole it has to go into. The excess has to be worked in by hand, pausing the sewing machine every couple of inches to rouche in a little bit. With a Turnbull & Asser shirt that excess is ¾ of an inch. That’s what all ready-to-wear shirts will have and bespoke has as standard. But it can be greater if a customer desires or the shirtmaker instructs – sometimes because the gentleman wears jackets with a higher armhole.

- The firm has patterns recorded for just over 15,000 clients. None are identical.

- To show where the buttons have to be sewn on, the placket is laid out horizontally and each point marked with a pin. They used to use pencil but the mark would occasionally remain. A pinhole can simply be rubbed away. With a bespoke shirt you can pick any number of buttons in any arrangement – nothing is automated. In particular, some men prefer their second button to be a touch lower – a compromise between leaving one and two buttons undone on a normal shirt.

- There are three sizes of button: main placket, collar fastener and button-down collar. The hole for the collar fastener is the same as for the other buttons on the placket; but the button is a touch smaller to make it easier to do up.

- ‘Bong’ refers to the button on the gauntlet.

- When the collar is completed, it is folded in half and then half again. When unfolded, there are three small fold marks that can be compared to the position of the back and shoulder seams on the body of the shirt. Making sure these points match up ensures that the collar is dead centre, so doesn’t twist or stand up more on one side than the other.

- There’s a wall of honour outside the main hall for all employees with more than 15 years’ service. My guide for the sewing, supervisor Kath Cope, has been at Turnbull & Asser for more than 40 years.

- The shell buttons that T&A uses (imported from Italy) are ground down five times to get the surface exactly right. And each hole has to be punched individually, because if all four were punched at once the button would shatter.

I hope that sated your appetite.

Patrick Grant loves tweed. That’s evident from the length and depth with which the owner of Norton & Sons will talk about tweed. Indeed he was recently asked to speak about tweed, by the Harris Tweed Authority. He is making a documentary about tweed, with the BBC. Hell, his grandfather was a yarn designer.

But he loves one particular tweed in particular: Harris tweed. And more specifically than that, the Harris tweed made by Donald John Mackay in a small hut, on the edge of the beach in Luskentyre.

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