Bespoke Shirt Fit - Restrictive Arm Movement

[americanninja]

I've been struggling to get some bespoke shirts made that fit me comfortably. The tailor I have been using is highly recommended by many people and his shop is always busy and with return customers. I love his selection of fabrics and most importantly his price. However, it seems he just can't get the fit of my shirt down.

The issue I have been having from the beginning was that the arms felt too tight. I.e. when I would lift my arms or try to do things like tie my shoes or extend my arms to wash my hands in a low positioned sink (I live in Japan and most people are short, so I tend to have to lean down to wash my hands - haha). Anyways, everytime I would do this movement, the fabric would pull and cut into my upper arm (the area between my bicep and top of arm). So I kept complaining to the tailor (mostly a sales guy), and tell him it's too tight. I'm not a tailor, so I have no idea what to tell him to fix, I assume that's his job and he should know. Anyway, he made the arms bigger, but the pull of the fabric didn't change and it was still uncomfortable when reaching for things with my arms. So I brought in another shirt that I had which did not do this and asked him to copy whatever it was that was not causing this pulling/tightness to happen.

He copied the back of the shirt and applied it to the ones he made for me. His shirts no longer have that pulling at the upper arms, but now they look too baggy in the lower back. I went back in with this shirt and said, it fits much better in the arms now, but it looks too big, can you bring in the back. He then says that if he does that I will say it's too tight again and I will want it let out. I don't think this is true, my complaint, all along, has been that the upper arms are too tight when trying to move them around. I don't see how the lower back has anything to do with this.

If someone can look at the attached photos and advise what I should do with the lower back of the shirt to make it look better, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[TOstyle]

Cut the arms bigger if you need to, and put some dart seams in the back. That will give you enough across the front of the chest but take away some of the bagginess across the back.

 

[daizawaguy]

It would seem to be an armhole issue - as with your suit, there are lots of variables - armhole size, shape, angle, etc... It would seem that the pattern they may be using is not suited to your physique - unfortunately its a long journey trying to find something ideal, and sometimes a tailor does not nail it unless its closer to bespoke, because they are constrained by their set of variables, and the interaction amongst them. Don't give up though, its an interesting journey and experience, but don't throw too much money at something thats not working.

 

[starro]

Shirt doesn't look bespoke. If this tailor is dirt cheap, well, you get what you paid for.

 

[starro]

Shirt doesn't look bespoke. If this tailor is dirt cheap, well, you get what you paid for.

 

[bamboo]

I think you need to speak to the tailor/cutter himself. If he cannot improve that it means he is not good enough. It looks there are multiple things happening so adjusting part A can cause problem on part B etc etc. I think he needs to make a pattern from scratch.

 

[taxgenius]

May I ask who is the tailor?