Is it possible to tailor higher armholes after the fact?

I have a jacket with medium-low armholes and would really like the advantages of higher armholes, mostly so I can drive my car or place a book on a shelf without the jacket shoulders coming up to my ears! I'm sure it's an impossibility for sartorial purists, but are there any creative ways of doing it for cheaper jackets where the loss isn't that great? Would it look unreasonably weird to have a bunch of new seams and inserts in the armpit area?

Originally Posted by Svenn

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Would it look unreasonably weird to have a bunch of new seams and inserts in the armpit area?

Yes, unless you go for Black Watch plaid. That goes with everything.

Originally Posted by Svenn

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I have a jacket with medium-low armholes and would really like the advantages of higher armholes, mostly so I can drive my car or place a book on a shelf without the jacket shoulders coming up to my ears! I'm sure it's an impossibility for sartorial purists, but are there any creative ways of doing it for cheaper jackets where the loss isn't that great? Would it look unreasonably weird to have a bunch of new seams and inserts in the armpit area?

It can't really be done. You can pinch the sleeve at the front to give you a visually higher armhole but the movement comes from the back and you can't really raise this. Theoretically you could add material and seams but no ones ever asked me to do this nor have I seen it done. Of course you would need more of the same cloth. Even then I don't think the result would be great visually or practically and it would be rather expensive.

In short: No.

Originally Posted by David Reeves

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It can't really be done. You can pinch the sleeve at the front to give you a visually higher armhole but the movement comes from the back and you can't really raise this. Theoretically you could add material and seams but no ones ever asked me to do this nor have I seen it done. Of course you would need more of the same cloth. Even then I don't think the result would be great visually or practically and it would be rather expensive.

In short: No.

What about with a Black Watch plaid insert? You have to think outside the box, David.

Originally Posted by David Reeves

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It can't really be done. You can pinch the sleeve at the front to give you a visually higher armhole but the movement comes from the back and you can't really raise this. Theoretically you could add material and seams but no ones ever asked me to do this nor have I seen it done. Of course you would need more of the same cloth. Even then I don't think the result would be great visually or practically and it would be rather expensive. In short: No.
Thanks David. Damn, the lack of high armholes in this jacket of mine is really the nail in the coffin for its comfortable wearability... it's just too tight and constricting. Though maybe I'm mistaken- most of the tension seems to be in the upper arm (biceps) area when I cross my arms, raise them, or reach out in front of me at a desk. Maybe that's just a sleeve problem? I suspect a sleeve is no easier to correct- do sleeves usually have reserves of fabric on the seam to allow for letting-out? Or could it be an overly tight upper back? Can I get a pleat inserted in the seam going down the middle of my back?

Please wake me when this thread reaches 90 pages.

Originally Posted by Svenn

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Thanks David. Damn, the lack of high armholes in this jacket of mine is really the nail in the coffin for its comfortable wearability... it's just too tight and constricting. Though maybe I'm mistaken- most of the tension seems to be in the upper arm (biceps) area when I cross my arms, raise them, or reach out in front of me at a desk. Maybe that's just a sleeve problem? I suspect a sleeve is no easier to correct- do sleeves usually have reserves of fabric on the seam to allow for letting-out? Or could it be an overly tight upper back? Can I get a pleat inserted in the seam going down the middle of my back?
I don't think this is an armholes issue, per se. The "drape" crew are really big on extra fabric in the front of the chest, but I think fullness in the back over the shoulder blades is more important. Get a picture of yourself from behind while you're moving like you describe, to see what I mean. If you decide to get a coat custom made be sure to ask for it.

Originally Posted by Ataturk

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I don't think this is an armholes issue, per se.

The "drape" crew are really big on extra fabric in the front of the chest, but I think fullness in the back over the shoulder blades is more important. Get a picture of yourself from behind while you're moving like you describe, to see what I mean.

If you decide to get a coat custom made be sure to ask for it.

You mean ask for a baggier backside? I'm not sure what 'fullness' means.

Not bigger, just more fabric between the points--like a little slack in a rope. The trick is to get the slack to fall in the right places so it doesn't look bad.

this could be a worthwhile experiment, assuming that the potential loss would not be too great. however, the work involved would likely be so expensive that it would only make sense to try it on a more expensive garment. also, i think the only way to do it would be to start with a coat where some of the overall length could be sacrificed in order to make the armhole higher and where other elements of the jacket including pockets and button stance are also lower than desired.

on one of my recent visits to my tailor, he showed me another client's older kiton that that he had been asked to shorten and update (i guess this client is a surgeon with something like 100+ kitons--in all likelihood many of them were purchased years ago when kiton was considerably less expensive). my understanding of what my tailor planned to do was to shorten the jacket from the top (the shoulder seam). i believe the plan would be to recut the scye lower down on the jacket. my tailor as proven to be quite excellent in my experience, so i assume this is not total lunacy.

given this, it seems like a possibility that you could shorten the jacket from the top and recut the scye so as to make a higher armhole. my only concern (among all the other obvious ones) would be that the sleevehead might not be generous enough to accomodate the desired range of motion if not designed to fit into a higher armhole in the first place.

btw, my tailor told me that he would be charging around $500 for the alteration (still a bargain compared to a new kiton, but...).

^interesting idea sfnapolifan. My (amateur) thought was that a tailor could just take off the sleeve, then insert a crescent shaped piece of fabric on the bottom of the armpit hole to make the hole smaller... I assume something similar would have to be done on the sleeve as well. I'm not sure how much extra fabric is needed to achieve high armholes, i.e. to push the jacket armpit into your body's actual armpit, it might actually be quiet a lot right? Maybe has much as 4 extra inches? Any inserts then would have to be fairly sizable.

Originally Posted by Svenn

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^interesting idea sfnapolifan. My (amateur) thought was that a tailor could just take off the sleeve, then insert a crescent shaped piece of fabric on the bottom of the armpit hole to make the hole smaller... I assume something similar would have to be done on the sleeve as well. I'm not sure how much extra fabric is needed to achieve high armholes, i.e. to push the jacket armpit into your body's actual armpit, it might actually be quiet a lot right? Maybe has much as 4 extra inches? Any inserts then would have to be fairly sizable.

other than shortening the jacket altogether, there's probably some seam allowance that could be utilized, but not much. if the jacket really is on the "cheaper" side of things, the cost of doing what you're contemplating--the sleeves would probably have to be reset by hand by someone capable of doing that, which i would guess could be as much as $200 depending on where you live--is probably not worth the sub-optimal result you're likely to end up with.

as others have suggested, you may want to try having someone let out the back a bit and see if that improves things.

Originally Posted by Svenn

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Is it possible to tailor higher armholes after the fact?
NO

I think impossible. It needs reconstruct shoulder at all.

Originally Posted by AndrewRogers

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Please wake me when this thread reaches 90 pages.

Did I missing something?