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How much can tailor alter the waist of suit coat?

SuitingStyle

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Hi -

I have a dilemma. Bought this Navy suit that fits me well across the shoulder and chest, however, it is a fuller cut, so the waist of the coat is giving a lot room. Just wondering how much a tailor can do to the waist of the coat without throwing off the balance of the coat ( the side pockets being shifted too far back ).

thanks
 

gdl203

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I would say 3 to 4 inches depending on the size of the coat
 

Drinkwaters

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A good tailor will tell you if it's just a waist, seat and crotch alteration or that the pant needs to be recut, meaning off with the waist band and reducing side seams and back seam.

Gary
 

gdl203

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Originally Posted by drink8648
A good tailor will tell you if it's just a waist, seat and crotch alteration or that the pant needs to be recut, meaning off with the waist band and reducing side seams and back seam.
Gary


The OP is referring to the coat's waist here, not the pants
 

Despos

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We just reduced the jacket waist 5" total without effecting the look of the jacket.
Depends a lot on the jacket silouhette. If you bought a sack cut, you can reduce the waist but it won't render well as the genesis of the jacket is meant to be boxy. If the jacket is meant to be shaped it will only get better. Avoid any extremes and you will be ok.

If "drop" ( difference from chest to waist measurement) is a new term to you. Investigate some past threads for info and look for your next suit with a bigger drop. It will help with the fit of your jacket and the trouser waist will be 1 or 2" smaller as well.
 

SuitingStyle

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Originally Posted by Despos
We just reduced the jacket waist 5" total without effecting the look of the jacket.
Depends a lot on the jacket silouhette. If you bought a sack cut, you can reduce the waist but it won't render well as the genesis of the jacket is meant to be boxy. If the jacket is meant to be shaped it will only get better. Avoid any extremes and you will be ok.

If "drop" ( difference from chest to waist measurement) is a new term to you. Investigate some past threads for info and look for your next suit with a bigger drop. It will help with the fit of your jacket and the trouser waist will be 1 or 2" smaller as well.



Don't think this is a sack suit. The jacket has a 7'' drop. Suit is 46R, so that makes the waist 39'', and my waist is 34''. So I guess it sould be doable for a decent tailor could easily take out about 3'' from both sides conbimed and make that jacket look fit on me. This is a Canali suit, don't think they are known to make sack suit.

thanks
 

Despos

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The trousers may be more of an issue. 5" is too much to take out only from the back of the trousers. The front needs to be recut, maybe even lower the rise. If not, the side seams and front pocket will be too far to the back. The back pockets will be too close to each other. The fronts will look baggy and the back distorted. The crotch will need to come in quite a bit unless you have heavy thighs.

The jacket we just worked on, we took more from the fronts than from the back. IMO I would not reduce the jacket waist to match a 34 waist. I would fit it to a 36 or 37 waist. The effect wll be more elegant and natural.

Canali is decent,good suit. Hope you get the fit you want.
 

a tailor

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chris is right. and if you need to take in the trousers 4 or 5 inches you need a recut. log onto ask andy click on search, type in trouser alterations. you might want to print out the diagram take it with and discuss it with your tailor.
 

ineffable

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if i'm not mistaken, the op's pants fit fine, just the waist of the coat is off. In my experience it should be doable; and even if it isn't as much as you'd like, it'll be much better than what it is now.
 

Sator

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I always have the waist taken in up to around 3-4 inches. I apologise for seeming to hijack the thread, but a related question for the learned tailors on the forum is what (apart from the pocket positions already mentioned) it is that limits the amount of waist suppression you can add to the coat. Is it that you want to avoid making the skirt too narrow? In which case is it not possible to just add waist suppression without affecting the other dimensions, thus leaving the amount of flair on the skirt unchanged for instance? Can't tailors just fish out a concave shape of fabric only at the waist or do they have to cut out an equilateral triangle of fabric from top to bottom? Does it depend on whether you attack the coat through the centre or the side seams? And how can adding waist suppression adversely distort the original shape of the coat?
 

Despos

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There are many more ways to shape a garment when cutting a jacket than after it is made. To shape a jacket before construction I can remove cloth from the front edge, reducing the amount of lap. I can reduce the front where it is sewn to the side body and the front edge of the side body. Once the jacket is sewn you can only work on the side seams and center back. The front areas are not adjustable because of the pocket and buttonholes. The jacket needs to be adjusted both front and back to be well balanced. Taking in the side seams an excessive amount pulls the front quarters to the back and if done too much will create diagonal wrinkles under the arms. Upward at the chest pointing downward to the back. Only working on the side and back seams leaves the fronts full and out of proportion to the back panels.
Shaping the side seams needs to done gracefully. The more you take out at the waist the higher and lower you need to start on the seams. From the top of the armhole extending to the hem.
 

Aloysius16

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I bought a used Corneliani Mantua model suit recently that fits very well in size 52. I have therefore bought a couple more of this model, but find that the unaltered waist size is bigger - it is 21" flat across the front rather than 20" in the used one which fits well. I therefore asked a local tailor to take one of the new suits in at the sides by a couple of inches to get them to be the same. However, what this has resulted in is a jacket which is too tight at the back and still too loose at the front, even though the waist also now measures 20". I believe they used all three seams (side and back) to do the alteration.

What might cause this disparity between the alterations on the two jackets (assuming the first one started life as bigger at the waist).. Is there any technique that can be used to balance out the waist suppression a little more so it affects the front as well as the back?
 

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