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Anxiety about OTR Suit Jacket Sleeve Shortening

danielqtaylor

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[Note: I am having difficulty with the SF text formatting across multiple browsers on my ancient system, and cannot get line breaks to appear, so apologies for the Wall o' Text!] Greetings Gentlemen,

I took an expensive Italian suit jacket into the tailor the other day for shortening. It seems that in order to get it short enough for a reasonably proper fit, he will have to remove the bottom button (of four) and the stitching for the faux buttonhole; he cannot say, however, if there will be traces of the faux hole left until after the stitching is removed (the fabric is a very light wool, but I am concerned that such traces may indeed remain, marring the appearance of an otherwise splendid jacket). There is also the matter of my unequal arm lengths (over 1/2" difference, apparently), but to factor this in if the alteration is being done at the sleeve bottom obviously complicates things enormously, as then there would be a rather obvious inequality of distance from the bottom button to the sleeve end between one arm and the other. (I should add that the tailor also mentioned simply removing all the buttons and their faux buttonholes, but again could not guarantee that marks would not be left...)

The atmosphere at the tailor was rather tense, as I felt unsure of which way to proceed, and whenever I asked for his advice or suggestion, he would respond that he didn't know, that "*you* have to decide." When I asked what the response of other customers was to similar alterations, he said he didn't know, "they didn't tell me" (English is not his first language, and he does not seem to be an overly outgoing type, so I don't think he is too often engaging in feedback-seeking conversation with his English-speaking clientele). So I continued to ask questions and to silently consider my predicament, eventually him saying something along the lines of his losing money with the time all these back-and-forth considerations take. Still unsure of what to do, but at that point -- having already spent +-20 minutes in the shop -- I committed to plan A which was to make the arms equal lengths, with one button and faux buttonhole removed on each sleeve. The jacket is at the tailor's, pinned/chalked, to be worked on later this week.

But... I am still concerned about those faux buttonholes leaving traces, the unequal arm length issue, and the tailor's seeming lack of interest in achieving the best possible outcome, throwing all decision-making responsibility onto me (I would think that someone who had decades of experience in a certain field would be able to offer observations on the optimal manner of proceeding, and indeed would be happy to do so). And although he did volunteer, unasked, to check my arm lengths and to make the sleeves unequal, he never suggested altering at the shoulder (which is also a job I would be concerned about, as this is a pinstripe jacket and I have had a bad experience in the past with a major alteration done to a pinstripe jacket where the pinstripes ended up noticeably asymmetrical between sides).

So, given the above, what do I do? Let him proceed, and hope for the best? Head back there before he cuts away, and reclaim the jacket (giving him $10 for his wasted time) to further ponder my best course of action?

And just how likely is it that the removed stitching of the faux buttonhole will be noticeable on this light wool jacket? (If it's likely not going to be noticeable, I would probably opt to simply have all the buttons and their faux holes removed and then have the sleeves shortened unequally at the bottom.) Have any of you had this done and regretted it? Were you ever able to wear the jacket again?

Thanking you in advance for your replies, Dan
 

danielqtaylor

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Note: I have reposted this to the Ask a Question thread where I meant to put it in the first place. Please reply there, and mods please delete this thread. Thanks!
 

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