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The Tailors' Thread: Fit Feedback and Alteration Suggestions

hugh51271

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I pulled this suit out of the closet. I had it made about ten years ago. I was a little bulkier then. I am more athletic now.
Here are some stills from a video.
Does it need any alterations?
I am not wearing shoes here.
Cheers.
Capture 4.JPG
Capture 5.JPG
Capture1.JPG
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Capture3.JPG
 

jandersson

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Looking at the front views and side views on both jackets:
At the button position and below; the front edge curls outward, away from the body. So much that you cannot see the button when looking from the front. It is covered by the curling front edge. The side profile pictures of both jackets shows the top face of the button facing you. The face of the button should not be seen from the side view, it should face forward. Should only see the button profile standing up on the shank from the side view and the front edge should lie closer to the body and not curl so much that it is facing outward and to the side.
This is caused by the collar being too short. The collar controls the roll of the lapel. The lapel roll should end above the button and not put tension on the front edge.

The cloth of the top collar is folded under on both ends of the collar. You have it outlined. This is the extra length needed when a new collar is made. The top collar cloth is removed and you need a new under collar that is the correct size. This will relax the way the lapels fall.
Thanks a lot for sharing your time and expertise. Really! I would never have understood the relation between collar length and lapel roll on my own. No matter how much time I spend photographing, measuring, reading and analysing. These kinds of insights is why I love this thread!

The jacket balance is extremely off. Back is at least an inch too short.
I'm struggling with interpreting this one. A naive interpretation of "the back is too short" would be that it should be lengthened from the bottom, but since you mention it in a context of "jacket balance" I fear it's not that easy?

I've previously had jackets with unruly vents. The vent flap wouldn't sit flat and the vent layers got caught up and folded. I've attributed those issues to a short back, but I consider the vents on this jacket fairly well behaved? What other issues might a short back balance cause? What fit issues are you seeing on this jacket to diagnose a short back balance?

Can point out what needs attention but hesitate to advise any changes. Everything seems over manipulated beyond reason. Better to adjust from the base pattern with no adjustments made than try to rearrange a jacket that has been manipulated so much.
I'd really appreciate it if you could expand a bit on the short back balance issue. Even if it can't be completely corrected on this jacket I'd really like to understand this better.

This vintage post would indicate that if anything can be done to improve the balance it needs to be done at the shoulders and not the sides due to the fabrics pattern alignment. However, I doubt that there's an inch of back length to let out at the shoulders. I don't suppose shortening the front could balance out a short back? Two wrongs make a right?

Why don't you work with another maker?
With Luxire I can change just about anything I'm able to communicate and I very much enjoy the evaluation process. Setting up the photo gear, automating the post processing, taking detailed measurements of each garment and then trying to figure out how tailoring works.

I've previously been disappointed by the limited pattern changes offered by many other online MTM tailors. Iterating over and over only to end up with something that's not good and no more parameters left to tweak. But I'm reluctantly starting to accept that if you can't nail the fit in 2-3 iterations, additional changes probably won't bring you closer to the target. Only starting from a new base pattern will and probably with a different maker.

I'll stick with Luxire for shirts and jeans, but perhaps it's time to look somewhere else for trousers and jackets.

The trouser crease changes directions on every trouser. From the front view the waistband seems to angle from low on the right to higher on the left. You may have a high left hip contributing to the crease line. Grey trouser looks very short.
The grey trousers are a bit of a low point. They are indeed very short, the fabric is terribly unforgiving, the left leg twists significantly outwards and the left pleat is a complete mess. Most of these issues were corrected with the stone VBC trousers. I'll keep an eye out for a potentially high left hip going forward. Thanks!
 

Despos

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With your jacket on pull the tip of the collar down and see how the roll of the lapel changes. Then pull the tip of the collar up towards your shoulder and see how the lapel roll changes. Very simple way to visualize what happens.

Look at your jacket side views. The hem angle is very sloped, high in back to lower in front. This is over exaggerated and shouldn't be like this.
On this finished jacket you open the side seams and raise the back up, letting out the extra cloth at the turn up of the hem. This increases the back length in relation to the front length.
With a jacket on, reach over your shoulder and pick up the back at the center back seam just below your collar. Watch how the fronts swing open and start pulling to the back. Same visual realization as you did with the collar.
You could tell Luxire to increase the jacket length 1" but not to change the lengths of the front. Don't actually do this because they may not understand and could mess things up. Communicating these types of changes are better left to tailors talking to cutters. The words you use or the phrasing you use can be misunderstood because they mean something to you but not to someone in the trade. Too much room for errors. I'm explaining the adjustments only to clarify what will change. The issues you are having aren't corrected with measurements because they are technical adjustments for posture/balance and construction techniques. Example; If you tell them to make the collar longer, they won't know what to do, it doesn't communicate what needs to be done. If you ask that the lapel roll end 1" above the button, they may know what to do by adjusting the collar. Does that make sense?
 
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jandersson

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With your jacket on pull the tip of the collar down and see how the roll of the lapel changes. Then pull the tip of the collar up towards your shoulder and see how the lapel roll changes. Very simple way to visualize what happens.
This technique works very well! Going forward I'll definitely use it to evaluate lapel roll when trying on new jackets.

Look at your jacket side views. The hem angle is very sloped, high in back to lower in front. This is over exaggerated and shouldn't be like this.
Since most jackets are shorter in the back I haven't thought much of it. But from the side view even the horizontal lines of the fabric pattern slope a fair bit forward which I suppose would be a sign of a short back balance.

On this finished jacket you open the side seams and raise the back up, letting out the extra cloth at the turn up of the hem. This increases the back length in relation to the front length.
Aha! So when correcting a short back balance you don't let out the back panels from the top at the shoulder seam. I verified that there's very little fabric to let out at the top. Instead you let it out from the bottom at the hem. I assume this inevitably leads to a misaligned pattern on a patterned jacket?

pattern_alignment.gif

The above animation shows what I imagine would happen to the pattern alignment. Would you consider lengthening the back balance on a finished jacket in a patterned fabric like this? Is it worth sacrificing the pattern matching to achieve better balance?

You could tell Luxire to increase the jacket length 1" but not to change the lengths of the front. Don't actually do this because they may not understand and could mess things up. Communicating these types of changes are better left to tailors talking to cutters. The words you use or the phrasing you use can be misunderstood because they mean something to you but not to someone in the trade. Too much room for errors. I'm explaining the adjustments only to clarify what will change. The issues you are having aren't corrected with measurements because they are technical adjustments for posture/balance and construction techniques. Example; If you tell them to make the collar longer, they won't know what to do, it doesn't communicate what needs to be done. If you ask that the lapel roll end 1" above the button, they may know what to do by adjusting the collar. Does that make sense?
Communicating tailoring changes can be a challenge! Asking for the desired outcome instead of specifying what I believe to be the modifications needed to achieve the outcome is indeed the way to go about it. I wish there was a less error prone way to communicate these things. Like exchanging drafting patterns, but when I've had a chance to look at such things I've barely been able to decipher them.

I'm fairly confident I'll be able to communicate the short collar issue but less so regarding the balance. Perhaps I should take a few queues from this article and ask them to correct for a stooped/head-forward posture:
The pattern adjustment here is to lengthen the back of the jacket through the middle to give it enough radiance so that the collar reachers the neck and the bottom of the jacket can cover the seat, laying flat.
But I'm not following what through the middle nor radiance means.
 

Luigi_M

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Sorry to say @takashi78 is right, because otherwise your coat is really nice (nothing too extreme though - I'd happily wear it)
 

1up

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Why would I get pocket flare worse on one side rather than the other, I don't think my right glute is much bigger than my left.

And what is the fix?
 

ter1413

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Despos

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Besides the length something is off with the shoulders and collar. Buttonholes on left front are about 1” higher than the buttons on the right side. Lapel rolls very high on right front and lower, almost to the buttonhole on left side.
 

Despos

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Why would I get pocket flare worse on one side rather than the other, I don't think my right glute is much bigger than my left.

And what is the fix?
Can’t be certain without seeing the trouser. Most likely reason is it might be the pocket you use more often and it has stretched more than the other pocket.
Your hips are not symmetrical and one hip may be higher than the other.
Trousers fronts are cut too narrow.
Rise is too low.
Pocket is poorly constructed .
Could any one or combination of.
 

1up

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Here are some pictures - obvious answer is that they're too slim as evident by the horizontal wrinkling around the crotch, but was curious why the right one flares much more so; and if there is anything I can do now to resolve it via a tailor, or just count them as a write off.

1ab.png 2ab.jpg
 

Despos

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Here are some pictures - obvious answer is that they're too slim as evident by the horizontal wrinkling around the crotch, but was curious why the right one flares much more so; and if there is anything I can do now to resolve it via a tailor, or just count them as a write off.

View attachment 1415312 View attachment 1415313
Trousers are too tight, rise looks short too. Need at least 1 more inch of cloth across the front panels.
If you are right handed you may be using the right pocket more often and it stretches. See how the waist band curves upward on the right? You have a high hip. Sometimes a high hip is larger than the other hip and can contribute to this.
Looks like all the possibilities I previously mentioned are here.
 

ter1413

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Besides the length something is off with the shoulders and collar. Buttonholes on left front are about 1” higher than the buttons on the right side. Lapel rolls very high on right front and lower, almost to the buttonhole on left side.


Your eye is impeccable!
 

1up

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Trousers are too tight, rise looks short too. Need at least 1 more inch of cloth across the front panels.
If you are right handed you may be using the right pocket more often and it stretches. See how the waist band curves upward on the right? You have a high hip. Sometimes a high hip is larger than the other hip and can contribute to this.
Looks like all the possibilities I previously mentioned are here.

Yeah, spot on. It's almost like this was a quiz, and I provided the pics which validated your hypothesis..

My right hip is higher, and I am right-handed and will often but my phone in my right pocket, stretching it out more.

How do I accommodate for this on my next trouser make?
 

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