Sleeve Length - shirt and suit??

[apple3210]

hey guys, i'm in need of advice again.

first of all, i think next time i will get my shirts tailored made.

anyway, i'm a bit unsure of how long my shirt and suit sleeves should be.

with the shirts that "i think" fit me well, the end of the cuff of the sleeve falls before the palm of the hand and after that bone that sticks out like a ball. this is when my arms are straight down. if i move my arms vertically straight ie. my fingers pointing at the ceiling, it falls just below that ball bone.

is this the ideal length for a shirt sleeve?

also, are most "tailors" able to shorten sleeve lengths? i have a few shirts where the end of the sleeve falls at the start of the palm, thus when buttoned the shirt bunches up too much and looks baggy. how do they go about shortening it when there are the buttons along the cuff and sleeve?

also with the suit sleeve length, atm my suits don't show the cuff. they also fall after the ball bone. is it ideal to shorten it to just before the ball bone? this will leave enough cuff that i want to show when my hands are down. in terms of buttons around the suit sleeve, they're just stitched on and don't really function like real buttons.

sorry for the long post. thanks

 

[phxlawstudent]

http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=4829 Post #5

 

[Geezer]

Yes, a good alterations tailor can take up a too-long sleeve, by pulling some length back into the shoulder and re-sewing it.

Convention is show half an inch of cuff below the jacket sleeve with arms at the side. But it's a convention: some show more, some less. And the ideal length (within reason) of both coat and shirt sleeves (and their interrelationship) is again a convention. As long as you stick within reasonable limits, you'll be fine.

 

[apple3210]

ok cheers.

i do have some OTR shirts that fit just right on the sleeve then.

so then my next issue is:

if my suit sleeve is pretty much the same as my shirt ie. just at the start of the palm, but not actually over it, should i just use the 1/4 - 1/2" cuff rule and shorten it by that much? i know it also partly depends on the person's measurement itself.

thanks for the replies.

 

[delavegatailors]

Originally Posted by apple3210

ok cheers.

i do have some OTR shirts that fit just right on the sleeve then.

so then my next issue is:

if my suit sleeve is pretty much the same as my shirt ie. just at the start of the palm, but not actually over it, should i just use the 1/4 - 1/2" cuff rule and shorten it by that much? i know it also partly depends on the person's measurement itself.

thanks for the replies.


Wear your OTR shirt with your suit jacket, and check the sleeves length.
You can shorten your jacket sleeve a little bit, to suit your personal taste. But yes, the convention says -and it's usually nicer- to show 1 cm (approx.) of shirt cuff. Showing too much cuff can be a bit awkward, so I would suggest to keep it at 1 cm, but again, everyone has different tastes.

 

[Roger Everett]

Go into any decent mens store and they will measure you for sleeve length. It's from center of back ( between shoulders ) to wrist, or something like that. Been a long time since I've had it measured, since I no longer swing from trees, which streached my arms. As for the jacket, I have mine adjusted at the tailors, to where if you spread out your hand, to where the end of the bone comming from thumb joins at the wrist. This give me a good proper revel of the shirt cuff.

Roger

 

[patrickBOOTH]

Sleeve length has always been a huge pain for me. Here is my story, I always wore RL shirts and being tall with ape arms all of my sleeves were slightly short. I then decided to get MTM jackets so naturally they were measured to show .25" of cuff. I then get custom shirts made and realize I have about a whole cuff sticking out the bottom of my jackets because my shirts now fit the way they are supposed to. So I get the jacket sleeves taken down to show .5" of cuffs. Now custom shirts shrink up a bit and show .25" of cuff, but now I realize they are too short in comparison to my wrist.

It is a never ending situation. I used to obsess over little things like sleeve length because it was a relatively cheap thing to get right. In the end there are far greater things to obsess over that are more important to a good fit than sleeve length, like collar gap, sleeve pitch, and lapel gaping. A lot more money to get right too. I feel like shirts being made of cotton, and their frequent laundering and such the fibers stretch and are shrunk so much that it is too much to fuss about too often. To me, dress shirts are a bit like undergarments, just whatever.