My tailoring adventure - part 3

[Matt]

Well for those of you following my little soap opera, today I had my first fitting of this suit. One giant problem - shoulders far too big. As soon as I put it on, we both said "ok theyve gotta come in" This in turn makes the sleeves too long. Unfortunately Chuong proved himself an atrocious wielder of a disposable camera (my digital died

), Ive Photoshopped them as best I can, but they were terrible. He showed up with only one sleeve attached and pants arent done yet either - theyll be done on Wednesday. Here are the pics. sorry about the missing corners here - the pics had a LOT of ceiling in them, and were at a weird angle. Its the second back one here that best shows how far out of whack the shoulders are. The first shows the waist suppression quite well, although this will change when the shoulders become less pronounced. I wish this one came out better, i hoped to be able to show the internal construction of it, but this was the best i could get it. Hope you guys can make something of it. Yup, he used the standard shoulder pads rather than the soft wadding that a 'real' tailor might use. I think this is a little bit NFL and have asked him to take it in a bit. He is doing a second basted fitting next week till we get the shoulders right, dont want to go too much further till Im happy with the shape. Other thoughts? Matt

 

[johnnynorman3]

You might want to think about narrowing the lapels if you take the shoulders in substantially -- I don't think this is too big of an alteration.

 

[MilanoStyle]

Yeah, lapels need to be narrower.

 

[Matt]

thanks for these - certainly this isnt feedback I had previously received. Will discuss it with Chuong at next meeting.

Can lapel size be changed after the suit is complete or only at the basted stage? I would like to see it all together before I make that decision if possible, but if better to make the call early, then I should know now.

Feedback from AA/IM/PM/emails in the past 24 hours has been:

- universal acknowledgement that these are linebacker shoulderpads that need to be reduced. i have broad shoulders anyhow, so not sure what he was thinking there.
- possibly this canvas is too stiff, tbc. This is the first of 3 suits I am having made (and deliberately the cheapest cloth first - if the canvas feels like plywood when its done, then I will investigate alternatives before proceeding with suit no 2)
- jacket slightly too short in back (which Chuong spotted yesterday and is rectifying - I didnt really notice til I saw the pics)
- sleeves could use more tapering
- sleeves too long (but maybe this will be solved when the shoulders come in)

Also received a few comments either way on the waist - a couple saying too much, a couple saying not enough. Personally I think its a reasonable compromise. Originally I was basing this on a Hackett which had quite heavy waist suppression and a pronounced skirt. Chuong advised against this as my weight fluctuates in my mid-section - but I definitely didnt want a sack suit, nor did I want to be launching buttons around the room - so I think this is a reasonable compromise.

Other thoughts or feedback from the discerning eyes of SF?

Matt