The Tailors' Thread: Fit Feedback and Alteration Suggestions

[NewSuit4GW]

I recently purchased a suit and was hoping I could receive some guidance on whether or not it needs tailoring, particularly the blazer. I am happy with the fit of the waist coat and have had the trousers lengthened but not sure if they need tapering? There is some gathering of fabric near the pockets when on the hanger which is also evident when they are on.

The blazer is snug on the shoulders and leaves enough space to show cuff but when buttoned up, I am not sure if it shows signs of being too tight?

I think this may be a cause of my blazer rising at the back. I know the vents should be perpendicular to the floor but a slight raise is evident.. I have heard terms that the jacket may need to be let out but am not sure what this means. Any help would be great?

Thanks in advance, pictures to follow.

 

[NewSuit4GW]

 

[OTCtailor]

I recently embarked on my first online MTM experiment and yesterday the initial results came in. This is a light mixed wool/linen (46%/54%) suit. I would appreciate any suggestions concerning indicated adjustments to the measurements and possible alterations.

From my perspective, there is one major problem with the jacket which is the pronounced lifting of the lapels that is clearly visible in the photos taken from a lateral perspective. This seems to be caused by my rather full chest due to fairly pronounced pecs. I do not believe, however, that too small a chest circumference measurement is at fault here as I own other suits with the same chest size that do not exhibit this problem. But where those differ is that they have darts under the collar/lapel that are missing from this MTM suit. Is there any way to address this issue through alteration at a reasonable cost?

With respect to the jacket back, I wonder what is causing the creases in the upper back region and how that could be addressed.

I also feel that the jacket could benefit from a slightly lower button stance (maybe 1 or 2 cm lower). Opinions welcome.

The second major problem obviously is with the waistcoat being comically short. I think another 4 to 5 cm in length is needed for it to properly cover the waistband. It does feel quite snug around the midsection, especially when seated, so I would not want to decrease the stomach measurement for it any further, yet it seems to hang a tad loose at the bottom (as can be see in the last photo).

How could the back of the pants be cleaned up a bit more? The pants feel rather constricted when sitting as I have fairly big thighs, yet I am reluctant to increase the thigh size as visually that may make the thigh area look ballooning relative to the lower leg area. Should I go for an overall wider leg? I also feel that the length needs to be shortened by about 1.5 cm, but I still want to preserve a break.

The pics I've left attached tell you the story. When the fronts of the jacket cross over or "scissor" from the button point downward and the chest is tight, it's mostly due to a short front balance
In your case, the problem is only worsened by the prominent chest. Your other jackets have lapel darts to address the issue and that's done at the pattern stage. It cannot be altered once made. There's almost nothing that can save the jacket.
The trousers are loose in the seat but tight in the rear fork. The seat needs to be more hollowed or hooked and let out at the rear fork.
The vest is clearly too short

 

[OTCtailor]

contrary to the poster before yours, the jacket is raising in the back as you can see because it's too short in the back balance for your posture and there is tension straight down the center seam and diagonally under the arms. That's probably the biggest flaw seen. The jacket may feel a little tight because of this.
The fix is if there's enough outlet fabric available in the shoulder seams and under the collar to lengthen the back.
Hard to say what you're experiencing with the pants but if there's excess fabric at the hips, they just need to be taken in there.

 

[st111]

The pics I've left attached tell you the story. When the fronts of the jacket cross over or "scissor" from the button point downward and the chest is tight, it's mostly due to a short front balance
In your case, the problem is only worsened by the prominent chest. Your other jackets have lapel darts to address the issue and that's done at the pattern stage. It cannot be altered once made. There's almost nothing that can save the jacket.
The trousers are loose in the seat but tight in the rear fork. The seat needs to be more hollowed or hooked and let out at the rear fork.
The vest is clearly too short

Thank you.

Could you elaborate what exactly you mean by "short front balance" of the jacket? Should the jacket front be longer? It seems to me that the buckling of the lapels is caused by too long a strap. Are there other ways to address this issue at the pattern making stage besides adding darts under the lapels/collar gorge?

With respect to the trousers, the relevant measurements for that area were crotch size (rise) and hips size/circumference. How would those have to be adjusted to address this issue?

 

[OTCtailor]

Thank you.

Could you elaborate what exactly you mean by "short front balance" of the jacket? Should the jacket front be longer? It seems to me that the buckling of the lapels is caused by too long a strap. Are there other ways to address this issue at the pattern making stage besides adding darts under the lapels/collar gorge?

With respect to the trousers, the relevant measurements for that area were crotch size (rise) and hips size/circumference. How would those have to be adjusted to address this issue?

Every MTM maker will have different ways of adjusting for stuff. It's not exactly standardized.
Too long a strap on a jacket will also cause fanning of the lapels. You are correct with that. When that is present, you will not see the front quarters inverting/scissoring. They will close to their normal opening but the lapels will still fan away from the chest. You see it a lot on people who have a more stooping posture and no chest. The difference is easy to discern in your case when you look at precisely what I pointed out. If the jacket front quarters are closing over each other before you're even able to button it, then the front balance is too short. Yes, that means the front section of the jacket is too short from the shoulder line downward. It's easy for you to prove...just button the coat, roll your shoulders forward to kindof compress your chest and curl your abs so that your torso begins to hook in on itself. You'll then see the lapels lay flat against your chest (maybe not totally in your case) and the quarters will stop inverting. What you're doing here is shortening the front of your torso. If the problem goes away or minimizes when you do this, then it's obvious that the strap is short.

Perhaps some things that could be noted to better adjust for this would be to make sure your posture is correctly specified. My MTM house uses perkins device measures where I can specify different degrees of erect, normal, or head forward posture. Along with that, specify prominent or barrel chest. That's what is going to call for that under lapel dart. Shoulder pitch adjustments, if they can do them, may also help. In your case, more than likely it's shoulders more backward pitched. You can tell this by feeling where the armhole feels most in contact with your body. Is it in the front on the shoulder creating a pinching pressure? Then it's forward shoulders. Is it in the back at rear of the armhole? Maybe more backwards then. In a nutshell, you basically need less fabric in width and a little less length over your back than you do in width and length over your front.
Make sure the shoulders are the proper width and slope. If the width is a little wide and the slope is not enough, the sleeve cap height will be a little too high which is what gives the look of divoting under the shoulder pad near the sleeve head. When MTM houses adjust for sloping shoulders and a more muscular physique, they may also reduce the sleeve cap height to get that shoulder closer to the actual shoulder. Again, this is what I know my MTM maker does, but does the online vendor? Who knows...?

lastly with the pants, try asking for forward hips, wears pants lower in the back, and maybe semi flat seat. Also, it looks like you're a little bow legged. They may be able to adjust for that as well.

 

[randomnoob]

copying the above person's image...

an off the rack jacket i just bought (its my first one) does this but only when i stand with my shoulders back, trying to have good posture. if i slump or stand the way most people do (average or bad posture) the lapels lay flat. Is that a problem?

 

[st111]

...

This is very helpful. Thank you so much for taking the time to provide such an elaborate explanation. I very much appreciate it.

 

[hentaisan]

Hi guys,

Can this be saved?

I know the back is too tight but I think that can be let out (at the back seam?)

The biggest concern for me is the collar gap from being too low (looks like it's being pulled down at the back seam).

Also, shoulder divots and the chest doesn't seem to sit flush.

Cheers

 

[randomnoob]

Can arms be rotated on an off the rack suit jacket? I just got one and noticed that the arms look fine if i stand with my knuckles facing forward (like a person with bad posture). but if i stand with my thumbs facing forward and slightly turned towards each other, like good posture, the arms get all these wrinkles between where they are sewn to the shoulder and the elbow. I assume that this means the arms need to be rotated?

 

[northernhiro]

Hello, first post here so I'm a newbie so if I step in it, let me know and I can revise.

I'm 5'9", 240 lbs and just wide enough and short enough but not fat enough that nothing in my budget off the rack works. In semi-desperation, I decided to try Indochino. I received my suit today and wanted to know if there are alterations that would fit within the $75 alteration allowance that would improve the fit. I just took it out of the box it was shipped in so I haven't had it pressed. Even with all the folds and what appears to be some poor drape, it still fits better than any off the rack suit I've owned so I'm not expecting miracles. To me, it has an X in the front, the back hangs really strangely, the vents seem stressed, the sleeves appear twisted and maybe too short, and there are shoulder divots.

 

[OTCtailor]

See the few posts above with the gent describing the fly away lapels. Yours is really the same problem(s) except generally more extreme. Short front balance long back balance. Erect posture and barrel chest. Sloped shoulders need less width point to point and you need to relax the half girth to manage the drop from the shoulders to the waist. You're super wide up top. To flatter that you close the point to point a bit and actually open up the half girth.
The long and short of it is no. The $75 alterations credit will cover nothing useful. Jacket needs to be remade with these proper observations.

 

[northernhiro]

See the few posts above with the gent describing the fly away lapels. Yours is really the same problem(s) except generally more extreme. Short front balance long back balance. Erect posture and barrel chest. Sloped shoulders need less width point to point and you need to relax the half girth to manage the drop from the shoulders to the waist. You're super wide up top. To flatter that you close the point to point a bit and actually open up the half girth.
The long and short of it is no. The $75 alterations credit will cover nothing useful. Jacket needs to be remade with these proper observations.

Thank you very much for the quick analysis and response!

 

[Despos]



Hello, first post here so I'm a newbie so if I step in it, let me know and I can revise. I'm 5'9", 240 lbs and just wide enough and short enough but not fat enough that nothing in my budget off the rack works. In semi-desperation, I decided to try Indochino. I received my suit today and wanted to know if there are alterations that would fit within the $75 alteration allowance that would improve the fit. I just took it out of the box it was shipped in so I haven't had it pressed. Even with all the folds and what appears to be some poor drape, it still fits better than any off the rack suit I've owned so I'm not expecting miracles. To me, it has an X in the front, the back hangs really strangely, the vents seem stressed, the sleeves appear twisted and maybe too short, and there are shoulder divots.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

See the few posts above with the gent describing the fly away lapels. Yours is really the same problem(s) except generally more extreme. Short front balance long back balance. Erect posture and barrel chest. Sloped shoulders need less width point to point and you need to relax the half girth to manage the drop from the shoulders to the waist. You're super wide up top. To flatter that you close the point to point a bit and actually open up the half girth. The long and short of it is no. The $75 alterations credit will cover nothing useful. Jacket needs to be remade with these proper observations.

Going MTM for your build will take several tries to even get close. You can consider this first suit a rough first draft. This is a good example of how measurements don't reveal the "depth" factor. The jacket is too small over the chest but very large across the blades. You may need the front panel of a jacket two or three sizes larger and the back panels two sizes smaller. This puts the cloth over your chest where you need it and reduces the back where you have too much cloth. The jacket would still measure your chest size but would distribute the cloth where it is needed. Not sure if the program you are using can accomplish this. You also need a hammer dart cut into the canvass and the cloth. You need bigger darts cut into the cloth and the canvass as well. This will help shape the chest to accommodate to your chest shape. Again, this may or may not be an option with this maker. Sending pictures to them and having a dialogue of your fit issues is the next step. Since people read and learn from these posts I highlighted the bold part to clarify. Point to point measurements increase with sloping shoulders. It's the basic principle that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. This line "I" is shorter than "(". Sloping shoulders are more curved and the distance across them is greater than if they were high shoulders and have a straighter horizontal line. Given that the width of the shoulders are the same and the only variable is the degree of slope.

 

[northernhiro]

Going MTM for your build will take several tries to even get close. You can consider this first suit a rough first draft. This is a good example of how measurements don't reveal the "depth" factor. The jacket is too small over the chest but very large across the blades. You may need the front panel of a jacket two or three sizes larger and the back panels two sizes smaller. This puts the cloth over your chest where you need it and reduces the back where you have too much cloth. The jacket would still measure your chest size but would distribute the cloth where it is needed. Not sure if the program you are using can accomplish this. You also need a hammer dart cut into the canvass and the cloth. You need bigger darts cut into the cloth and the canvass as well. This will help shape the chest to accommodate to your chest shape. Again, this may or may not be an option with this maker. Sending pictures to them and having a dialogue of your fit issues is the next step.

Since people read and learn from these posts I highlighted the bold part to clarify. Point to point measurements increase with sloping shoulders. It's the basic principle that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. This line "I" is shorter than "(". Sloping shoulders are more curved and the distance across them is greater than if they were high shoulders and have a straighter horizontal line. Given that the width of the shoulders are the same and the only variable is the degree of slope.

Thank you for the detailed response! I've tried searching the forum for "point to point" but I've been unable to find the glossary. If there is a link to a glossary of fitting descriptions, can you please post a link? Thanks again!