Altering shirts

[Mecnun]

I have recently lost about 12kg weight. My suits still fit me well post the weight-loss, however all mys shirts which were originally bespoke shirts look now a bid loose on the chest and the waist. Is there a way to get the shirts altered so that they fit again proper? These shirts already were taken inn at the back originally. My question is can the sides of the shirts be opened and taken inn from the sides?

 

[j]

Yes, shirts can be taken in at the sides and up along the underarm and sleeve if necessary. It's a relatively painless procedure, but usually permanent. Some drycleaner/alterations places are good enough to do it. If they are important, though, you will want to take them to a tailor/shirtmaker.

 

[demeis]

Don't recommend a dry cleaners for this. The shirts will need to be recut. If you want decent work and not someone who just folds and stiches then go to some place that knows what they are doing. They should take out the stiches and recut the shirt to make it slimmer. Probibly going to run you about $25-35 per shirt.

 

[Quirk]

Originally Posted by Mecnun

I have recently lost about 12kg weight. My suits still fit me well post the weight-loss, however all mys shirts which were originally bespoke shirts look now a bid loose on the chest and the waist. Is there a way to get the shirts altered so that they fit again proper? These shirts already were taken inn at the back originally. My question is can the sides of the shirts be opened and taken inn from the sides?

Why not take them back to the original shirtmaker?

 

[Quirk]

double post

 

[jamesbond]

Originally Posted by demeis

Don't recommend a dry cleaners for this. The shirts will need to be recut. If you want decent work and not someone who just folds and stiches then go to some place that knows what they are doing. They should take out the stiches and recut the shirt to make it slimmer. Probibly going to run you about $25-35 per shirt.

Are you sure this is possible? I would think that altering the armholes/creating a higher armhole wouldnt work because the shirt body only goes up to a certain point, you cant raise the shirt body and shorten the armhole circumference? I am not saying its impossable but would seem very difficult and probably much more expensive then 35$ a shirt. It costs me 50$ for a good tailor to shorten the sleeves and dart the body. To recut an entire shirt i would say it should cost well over 100$ thats if you can find someone who knows how to do this. I certainly wouldnt trust a drycleaner or local tailor with this task, only a custom shirtmaker.

Maybe Carl can chime in on this, i would love to hear his opinion. If that indeed is possible i would buy tons of RLPL Keatons on ebay for 90$ and have them all re-cut.

 

[j]

The OP was only asking about trimming the chest and waist, which is definitely possible, either by simply laying the shirt flat and running a stitch up the side and underarm to the sleeve, or by removing (part of) the sleeve and pulling the chest and back pieces closer together, reshaping the armhole and resetting the sleeve, etc. I was recommending the former procedure while demeis recommends the latter, which is obviously much more complex.

In fact, the former procedure can be used to effect a smaller armhole along with a slimmer chest, the problem being that the original armhole will now be found somewhat up the underarm, and will be somewhat out of shape. Here's one I did as an experiment using this method - before and after. (I didn't finish it as the shirt was damaged in the first place.)

This was a first attempt so the chest pulled a bit etc., but I got the idea of how to do it. It was a pretty dramatic alteration as well - on a closer fit it wouldn't alter the geometry nearly as much.