Alex Byrum, 28, can tell immediately if a person getting fitted for a custom suit is an old pro or a first-timer.
When he breaks out the measuring tape, newbies stand tall and draw back their shoulders. Vets, on the other hand, stand in a relaxed pose so the measurements produce clothes that drape correctly over their natural posture.
“The way someone stands for a fitting is very telling about whether they’ve done it before or not,” says Byrum, who has been sewing since he was 9 years old.
Byrum operates his tailoring business, Alexander Sebastian Bespoke, out of the former St. Andrews Methodist Church near the old campus of Tennessee Temple University in Highland Park. His fitting area is a 100-square-foot former coat room at the entrance to the church’s sanctuary — in the back he also has a 500-square-foot room with his sewing machines, tailor’s table and ironing board.