Buying & altering a too small jacket or too big jacket in order to make it fit?

[Patrician]

I'm interested in this sport jacket at asos.com. I always need extra long sleeves to make it work and that's not available. Should I go with my regular size and wish that there's extra fabrics extend the sleeves (there usually is) OR should I go with a larger sized jacket (with right sleeve length) and have my tailor slim it down? I really need that jacket.

 

[literasyme]

+1 on shoulder fit. Even a chest that's too far off is hard to alter, though -- adjusting the waist and seat is easier. As for sleeves, I suffer from the same predicament, and in my experience, sizing up doesn't necessarily solve the problem, since sleeve lengths in R jackets don't always go up between sizes. A 42R and a 44R often have the same sleeve length, and if there is a difference, it's rarely more than half an inch.

Letting sleeves out is easy for a competent tailor, though, unless there are working buttonholes, or it's a summer material (cotton, linen), where the old fold lines (and worse, fake buttonholes) normally remain visible after alterations.

 

[votor]

How much does it usually cost to make a jacket bigger?

 

[kuwisdelu]

If it's only the sleeve length that you are worried about, I would buy the smaller jacket (which I assume fits you better in all the other dimensions) and get the sleeves lengthened. Unless you have freakishly long arms, this should work fine.