The Tailors' Thread: Fit Feedback and Alteration Suggestions

[OTCtailor]

Hi guys!

Yesterday I went to pick up my MTM jacket, but I didn't accept it cause it needed some alterations. I must say that I'm quite dissapointed with the work. First of all the sleeves were super short! I mean that's why they measure you right? To get the right lengths and all stuff. They are going to compensate the short sleeves with the process that you all know. Problem is that I asked for fuctional buttons... so I don't know if between the first button and the end of the sleeve, there's going to be a huge gap. So I would like to ask, what is the common or correct distance between the buttons and the end of the sleeve?

Also in the middle of the back there was a huge bulk or fold, I don't know hoy to call it. I feel that the jacket is to tight in my waist, for a MTM jacket, the waist can be let out a bit? Then the lapels they were definitely not what I was expecting, the patch pockets and the chest pocket. I have to pick the final jacket on monday, and from those measurements they are going to make the other one. I will have an arguement on monday cause I think I will tell them that I don't want the other one, that I want my money back. Seriously, I had a different idea of the final product, I ordered these two jackets as a test, if they came out well I will stick with them to make all my jackets ans suits, but as far as it has gone, I don't like how they work.

I will take my camera on monday and I will take some pictures of the fit, so I can upload them.

Thanks!

Sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience. MTM is not always a cut and dry experience. When the person fitting you isn't properly trained and the person making the garment isn't the same person, you're going to run into problems. Posting pics is definitely your best bet. Post 6...side front and back. 3 with jacket on and 3 with it off. Make sure it's good lighting and decent straight forward camera angles. See the very first post in this thread.
Commenting on exactly what you're dealing with really isn't smart until we can see pics.

 

[gotmoo]

Thanks OTCtailor for all your helpful advice.

I'm quite frustrated because the MTM agent who was working with me basically felt everything fit fine, except for the slightly long pants. I'm not sure if he just didn't want to do any alterations or have absolutely no idea what he's doing. I'm obviously a big newbie on what to proactive tell him about things I want adjusted, and I don't get to work with the tailor directly, all-in-all, it's a very frustrating process.

I will definitely bring up the points you mentioned at the next fitting, but I'm not sure if he'll just put it off...because if I just bring up the issues without offering a solution (e.g. slim the pants by 1 inch, or something like that), he might just ignore it as he seemed quite clueless when I asked about what should be changed to reach a desired look.

What should I do to get rid of all the creasing in my pants? I actually didn't notice all the extra bunching up on the backside until I looked at all the pictures I took... Any advice from all you experts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again!

 

[OTCtailor]

Thanks OTCtailor for all your helpful advice.

I'm quite frustrated because the MTM agent who was working with me basically felt everything fit fine, except for the slightly long pants. I'm not sure if he just didn't want to do any alterations or have absolutely no idea what he's doing. I'm obviously a big newbie on what to proactive tell him about things I want adjusted, and I don't get to work with the tailor directly, all-in-all, it's a very frustrating process.

I will definitely bring up the points you mentioned at the next fitting, but I'm not sure if he'll just put it off...because if I just bring up the issues without offering a solution (e.g. slim the pants by 1 inch, or something like that), he might just ignore it as he seemed quite clueless when I asked about what should be changed to reach a desired look.

What should I do to get rid of all the creasing in my pants? I actually didn't notice all the extra bunching up on the backside until I looked at all the pictures I took... Any advice from all you experts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again!

So I'm an alterations tailor with mtm in house. If I fit up a person for new suits, shirts, or whatever, I'm the one at the end of the process with my label sewn into the jacket. The end result has my name on it. I don't actually make the garment, though, as I have factory relationships for that. Being a customer-centric business owner in today's modern internet driven economy is essential not only to survival but to actually grow. That being said, I am very thorough with my fittings and I know how my suppliers cut things. That gives me a lot more control over the process. If I had a fitting force sortof like Astor and Black, I'd relentlessly train those people but in the end that's where you start to lose control over fit quality. I believe that there are people who just see this stuff and people who just don't. You either are, or could be, a tailor, or you need a tailor. Almost no inbetween.
Why am I saying all this?
I've built and continue to build a reputation that if you come to me for mtm or "custom" clothes, you're going to get them right the first time because it's ME that eats the profit, otherwise. My factories do not offer remakes. If there's a mistake, I fix it and eat some of the profit. Since you can't eat all your profit and survive, well, there's the customer's assurance that the product is made right.
My question to you is, who is this mtm supplier? (I don't actually want you to name them here)
Why did you go to them? Was it price or quality?
In the tailoring world, you have 3 options to choose from but you can only pick 2:
Good, Fast, and Cheap. Or Quality, Speed of delivery, and Price.
If you want something Good and Fast, you must sacrifice on price and cough up the dough.
Fast and Cheap? Expect poor quality.
Cheap and Good? Expect slow delivery.
Get the point?
So, when dealing with mtm, the issue isn't so much whether you can communicate what you need to the tailor/fitter (although it is important), but the issue is whether they're quality and customer-service driven or not. And you can tell this. Observe. If something seems off, it probably is.
If you want some specifics on what you should be asking for relative to your body/posture etc, feel free to pm me with some pics of you from the side front and back wearing a fitted t shirt or tank and boxers and I'll advise you from there. MTM suits coming back needing no alterations is a near miracle. Needing small alterations is normal. Needing HUGE alterations is a signal to avoid because someone, probably the fitter, is inexperienced, careless, untrained, or simply doesn't have the eye to see what needs to be addressed.

 

[Superfluous]



Thanks OTCtailor for all your helpful advice.

I'm quite frustrated because the MTM agent who was working with me basically felt everything fit fine, except for the slightly long pants. I'm not sure if he just didn't want to do any alterations or have absolutely no idea what he's doing. I'm obviously a big newbie on what to proactive tell him about things I want adjusted, and I don't get to work with the tailor directly, all-in-all, it's a very frustrating process.

I will definitely bring up the points you mentioned at the next fitting, but I'm not sure if he'll just put it off...because if I just bring up the issues without offering a solution (e.g. slim the pants by 1 inch, or something like that), he might just ignore it as he seemed quite clueless when I asked about what should be changed to reach a desired look.

What should I do to get rid of all the creasing in my pants? I actually didn't notice all the extra bunching up on the backside until I looked at all the pictures I took... Any advice from all you experts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again!

To be honest, the suit isn't bad at all. Quite a bit better than a lot of stuff you'll find posted here.

 

[gotmoo]

OTCtailor, you made some great points. I went with them based on a recommendation from a friend, I guess they'd fall under the good & cheap category? Although I'm very new to the MTM world and am not too familiar with the pricing. The initial agent was great, just didn't have as good of an experience with the agent I met in the first fitting. I hope the suit doesn't need HUGE alterations. Unfortunately I don't have it with me, and the pictures I posted are pretty much all I have, I'd have to wait for the next fitting in about a week to post up more pictures. If you can make any recommendations based on the pictures already posted, I'd appreciate it very much, PM or here is fine.

Superfluous, thanks for the vote of confidence, hopefully with some alterations it can look a bit better...

 

[OTCtailor]

OTCtailor, you made some great points. I went with them based on a recommendation from a friend, I guess they'd fall under the good & cheap category? Although I'm very new to the MTM world and am not too familiar with the pricing. The initial agent was great, just didn't have as good of an experience with the agent I met in the first fitting. I hope the suit doesn't need HUGE alterations. Unfortunately I don't have it with me, and the pictures I posted are pretty much all I have, I'd have to wait for the next fitting in about a week to post up more pictures. If you can make any recommendations based on the pictures already posted, I'd appreciate it very much, PM or here is fine.

Superfluous, thanks for the vote of confidence, hopefully with some alterations it can look a bit better...

Superfluous is certainly right, but if you paid for something, you should be getting it done correctly. If not, there really should be an attempt by the outfit, for lack of a better term, to correct the problem.

What I saw that could/should be done to give you a much better visual is this:
Sleeves removed and rotated forward. While they're off, might as well clean up the back a little bit near the armholes.
Let out the waist it's a little tight.
Is the collar standing away from your neck? If so, that's a whole other issue. If not, you probably just deal with the forward shoulders. All in all, that balance has to be checked at least.
Hard to tell with the pants with your jacket on but it looked like the back rise was too high causing the cloth to collapse down your legs. Typical swayback adjustment. Also, the stride and crotch looked too full. The fix is dropping the back of the waistband for swayback and taking the the whole inseam from the crotch tapering to the knee which sucks in the excess cloth at the crotch and stride. Needs probably 1/2" taken in at the top of the inseam tapered to nothing at the knee. Also, the length was too long.
All in all, based on what I can see from your pics, if that was a suit you bought off the rack, that's probably what I'd look to fix. The sleeves are the most complicated, of course.
Is the tailor willing to eat those alterations or will he charge you? Are you willing to pay what it would cost? That's the thing to consider. The tailor's mtm may not offer remakes. These companies that do offer them are eating profit all over the place. Not everyone will do that. If it were me, I'd eat my profit into a blackhole because I'm more concerned with my credibility at the end of the day...and I'm probably too nice. Is this place the same? That's your issue.
I hope that helps.

 

[SloopyNoob]

Thank you, regarding the shirt. The sleeves and the tight hip are the only obvious issues? If so, I they they can be fixed pretty easily by my tailor. I'm trying to build a model shirt so I can take measurements of it and give it to moderntailor.com. The shirt pictured hasn't been washed yet.

I'm not sure what to do with the J Crew's jacket. There's just something off about it. It's certainly not tight. The open of the vent in the back is probably because I had just ripped it open right before taking the pictures. If it's a shoulder issue like you said, I'll probably return the jacket. I have another one coming from BrooksBrothers, I will post pictures once I receive it.

 

[aravenel]



To be honest, the suit isn't bad at all. Quite a bit better than a lot of stuff you'll find posted here.

I was going to say the same. There are certainly some things that could be cleaned up, but honestly, this fits better than 90% of the suits out there, so don't sweat it too much. Have seen way, way worse, especially MTM.

 

[OTCtailor]

Sadly, I'm sad to admit that its sad but true. A truly sad state of affairs.

 

[AdamWill]

remember the point of this thread is to get advice, and the guys giving the advice are really good. they're never going to say 'eh, well, I could tell you some things that could be done to it, but it looks fine, so don't bother' - they're assuming that the fact you're posting means you want to improve it. I read the whole thread a couple weeks back, and not one person posted a pic and got a response of 'there's nothing you can do to make it any better' (well, except for the ones which were so terrible they were lost causes). so just because otctailor can offer advice on improvements doesn't mean it's a really bad job, or anything, like aravenel and superfluous said if you can get the changes otctailor suggested done within your MTM package or for a decent price you're willing to pay, then great, but if not, it doesn't mean the suit's a lost cause at all.

 

[aravenel]

Oh, absolutely--I'm not saying that there aren't things that can be improved, or that he shouldn't try. I'm simply saying that the suit is 90% there--it's not a disaster by any means, so he should wear it with pride whether he is able to get the issues resolved or not.

 

[Betelgeuse]



Sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience. MTM is not always a cut and dry experience. When the person fitting you isn't properly trained and the person making the garment isn't the same person, you're going to run into problems. Posting pics is definitely your best bet. Post 6...side front and back. 3 with jacket on and 3 with it off. Make sure it's good lighting and decent straight forward camera angles. See the very first post in this thread.
Commenting on exactly what you're dealing with really isn't smart until we can see pics.

Thanks! That's exactly what happened, one tailor took the measurements in the store, then they send those to we're the garment is done. If I am not happy with the end product I will ask for a remake and show them how I want the lapels, pockets and other stuff to look. I will also ask my personal tailor if he can come to see the garment and give me some pointers of the quality and that stuff.

 

[OTCtailor]

Oh, absolutely--I'm not saying that there aren't things that can be improved, or that he shouldn't try. I'm simply saying that the suit is 90% there--it's not a disaster by any means, so he should wear it with pride whether he is able to get the issues resolved or not.

The qualifications for "disaster" are really up to the customer. He's the one wearing it. Looks can always be deceiving. If there's a balance problem or it's incorrectly cut with for his posture then he will be fighting it every single time he wears it. This will inevitably affect his emotional well being. These are the hidden costs of poor fit...even if the poor fit looks to only be 10% of the whole package to a person only observing. Only a trained eye can see balance problems. Most people accept discomfort in their clothes out of ignorance. They don't know it doesn't fit. The curse is getting educated. Once you know standards of proper fit or have something that fits right, you can never got back.
If you're willing to post pics on here looking for advice in front a few folks that essentially apply a standard of perfection to every garment they see, you obviously care beyond what an average person does and you're not looking for false encouragement.
Believe me, when I'm in conversation with people out and about and they hear me say what I do, often times a wife will look at herself or her husband and say, "tell me what's wrong here" (with their clothes). They're thinking I might chime in on the fact that maybe the guy is wearing black shoes with a brown leather jacket or something silly like white socks with dress shoes. In that environment, no tailor with an ounce of people skills opens his mouth to offer "truth". THAT'S when you offer false encouragement in favor of being likable. Not here. Nope, this is where we finally get to just speak the truth. In fact, we defraud the poster's by giving anything less.

 

[m0bbie]

Please help with the alteration. I realize that the jacket's sleeves are too long, as well as the length of the jacket. Anything else I should do?

 

[Horenste]

I have a quick question about alterations in the seat. My local vintage shop has a beautiful Harris Tweed Jacket for sale at $75. The shoulders fit perfectly (no dimples, good movement, no pull lines), the sleeves need a slight alteration (.25-.5 reduction), but i notice dthe single vent in the back is flying open like the tan jacket on page 162. Is there anything a tailor will be able to do to fix this or should i pass up on the jacket?

Thanks!