• Hi, I am the owner and main administrator of Styleforum. If you find the forum useful and fun, please help support it by buying through the posted links on the forum. Our main, very popular sales thread, where the latest and best sales are listed, are posted HERE

    Purchases made through some of our links earns a commission for the forum and allows us to do the work of maintaining and improving it. Finally, thanks for being a part of this community. We realize that there are many choices today on the internet, and we have all of you to thank for making Styleforum the foremost destination for discussions of menswear.
  • This site contains affiliate links for which Styleforum may be compensated.
  • STYLE. COMMUNITY. GREAT CLOTHING.

    Bored of counting likes on social networks? At Styleforum, you’ll find rousing discussions that go beyond strings of emojis.

    Click Here to join Styleforum's thousands of style enthusiasts today!

    Styleforum is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

Shirt sleeves narrowed, now chest too tight - fixable?

Dib

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2009
Messages
204
Reaction score
12
I took one of my favourite shirts to the tailors recently to have the sleeves narrowed (the shirt is a relatively slim fit, but the sleeves were slightly baggy).

I've just got the shirt back and the first thing I noticed as soon as I put it on was that the chest was now far too tight making the shirt unwearable. I assume this is because as part of narrowing the sleeves, the tailor had to tighten up the armhole where the sleeve seam joins it.

Does anyone know if this is fixable at all? I'm assuming when sleeves are narrowed tailors don't typically leave excess material inside (especially around the armhole) and I therefore can't think of any way this could be rectified, but would be grateful to know if anyone knows of a way this can be fixed and the chest made less tight?

Thanks in advance.

Dib
 

mrjames

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2011
Messages
108
Reaction score
2
slim+fast.bmp






sorry bro, how tight is it- just a hair or 'can't do the buttons up'
if its the former then you can get an extra 1/2" by moving the buttons on the front of the shirt

just look in the seams at the shoulder, you will be able to see if there's any excess fabric left at the seam, in my books tailors do usually leave excess material- even at the arm hole. My tailor only trims it off once i'm fully happy with the alteration
 

Dib

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2009
Messages
204
Reaction score
12
Originally Posted by mrjames
slim+fast.bmp






sorry bro, how tight is it- just a hair or 'can't do the buttons up'
if its the former then you can get an extra 1/2" by moving the buttons on the front of the shirt

just look in the seams at the shoulder, you will be able to see if there's any excess fabric left at the seam, in my books tailors do usually leave excess material- even at the arm hole. My tailor only trims it off once i'm fully happy with the alteration


I can do the buttons up but once done up the chest is visibly tight (pulling at the buttons, restricts my movement etc). I'll take a look at the armhole to see if there's any excess fabric.
 

Dib

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2009
Messages
204
Reaction score
12
Originally Posted by Shirtmaven
you could add a gusset under the arm if you have fabric. but no way to get matching fabric.

maybe a solid color that is close


Many thanks for the useful suggestion. It's a relatively plain fabric so whilst I may not be able to get the exact same fabric, I will certainly be able to find something broadly similar. I'll suggest it to my tailor and see what they say. Thanks again!

Dib
 

Featured Sponsor

How important is full vs half canvas to you for heavier sport jackets?

  • Definitely full canvas only

    Votes: 85 37.6%
  • Half canvas is fine

    Votes: 86 38.1%
  • Really don't care

    Votes: 24 10.6%
  • Depends on fabric

    Votes: 35 15.5%
  • Depends on price

    Votes: 36 15.9%

Staff online

Forum statistics

Threads
506,437
Messages
10,589,375
Members
224,235
Latest member
Berowne
Top