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Huge tailoring mistake - what are my options?

dmass1

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Originally Posted by westinghouse
You lost me at "test".

It's like geting a pair of jeans hemmed to perfection and then bringing in wool slacks and chinos to be duplicated in length.


You lost me at comparing jeans to wool slacks.

These are all 1oo% cotton button-down shirts....
 

westinghouse

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Originally Posted by dmass1
You lost me at comparing jeans to wool slacks.

These are all 1oo% cotton button-down shirts....


Aren't you the guy that hemmed 8 shirts without trying them on?

..........and took 15 sentences to explain what took me one?
 

dmass1

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no I'm the guy who tried 8 shirts on and unfortunately hired an incompetent tailor.

You're the guy who makes poor analogies.
 

westinghouse

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Originally Posted by dmass1
no I'm the guy who tried 8 shirts on and unfortunately hired an incompetent tailor.

You're the guy who makes poor analogies.


Enjoy your loss and your OCD, wiseass...
 

unjung

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Originally Posted by westinghouse
Enjoy your loss and your OCD, wiseass...

You've made a great contribution to this thread, please continue.
 

cldpsu

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How close is the side seam to the top of the waist when tucked? One possibility could be to sew some shirting fabric onto the shirts cut to the side seam length you enjoy and blended in. To do this, he could undo the hem and you'd have a heftier rolled hem for a short distance at the blended in area or he could also even serge the bottom to avoid the thick rolled hem. Leaving it serged would give you some additional length. Forget about how the finishing looks at this point. Just make sure it sits where you want it and any extra added fabric doesn't cause any awkward bulk at hip level under the trousers.
 

Timbaland

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Damn purple label shirts are pricey. Surprised you took them in to be tailored. I wouldn't pay that much for a shirt unless it fit perfectly. If you do decide to do the gussets like I suggested, you shouldn't have to pay for it.
 

Dbear

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BrooksBrothers?

Return them for a full refund, or if you don't have a receipt, you get store credit. Don't worry, their cost for the shirts is $2-3 at most.
 

dmass1

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Originally Posted by Dbear
BrooksBrothers?

Return them for a full refund, or if you don't have a receipt, you get store credit. Don't worry, their cost for the shirts is $2-3 at most.


I didn't think this was possible anyway if I tailored the shirt myself? Anyhow, these were clearance shirts, no more in my size, and I believe they are no longer making the extra slim fit ginghams. Oh well

Originally Posted by Timbaland
Damn purple label shirts are pricey. Surprised you took them in to be tailored. I wouldn't pay that much for a shirt unless it fit perfectly. If you do decide to do the gussets like I suggested, you shouldn't have to pay for it.

I didn't pay retail for these shirts - I purchased on ebay. Still great shirts though
mad.gif


Originally Posted by cldpsu
How close is the side seam to the top of the waist when tucked? One possibility could be to sew some shirting fabric onto the shirts cut to the side seam length you enjoy and blended in. To do this, he could undo the hem and you'd have a heftier rolled hem for a short distance at the blended in area or he could also even serge the bottom to avoid the thick rolled hem. Leaving it serged would give you some additional length. Forget about how the finishing looks at this point. Just make sure it sits where you want it and any extra added fabric doesn't cause any awkward bulk at hip level under the trousers.

The sides are about 1 inch from the top of my pants when tucked in and if I move around they immediately come out. I imagine this is going to be even worse for a few of the shirts that have yet to be washed once there is some shrinkage (told the tailor to go .5 inches longer in the hem for these and he did, but only in the front and back length
angry.gif
) I'd considered sowing extra fabric to the sides (apparently he still has the fabric), but that eliminates any ability to wear these untucked which is why I took them in to begin with haha.

Like Meso said, I'm considering slimming the shirts to atleast make the proportions right and having the tailor chop the extra fabric in front and on the tail to make it more wearable untucked. I figured they may be passable for s/s shirts. My one concern is that some of these shirts are a little too formal for this. What have I got to lose at this point?

Anyone think this is a bad idea?
 

TheDroog

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dmass, I'm having trouble following your logic. If you want to wear your shirts tucked in, you generally want the hem to be as long as possible -- this prevents the shirt from slipping out when you sit and move around. Dress shirts have very long hems for this very reason. If you want to wear these shirts untucked (ie. casually), then the hem should be short, just below belt level. This sounds like what the tailor gave you.
 

impolyt_one

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cut off a little more and turn them into shirt-bras
 

dmass1

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Originally Posted by TheDroog
dmass, I'm having trouble following your logic. If you want to wear your shirts tucked in, you generally want the hem to be as long as possible -- this prevents the shirt from slipping out when you sit and move around. Dress shirts have very long hems for this very reason. If you want to wear these shirts untucked (ie. casually), then the hem should be short, just below belt level. This sounds like what the tailor gave you.

My logic was that with some decent tailoring, I could make my shirts more versatile by cutting them to a length that would allow me to wear tucked in as well as untucked. Are you saying that you must have some shirts for tucking and some for wearing untucked? In my opinion, these are not mutually exclusive, and the first one he hemmed proves this.

I'm 5 ft 7, 165 lbs with a 40 inch chest and a 32 inch waist. Not the most drastic drop around, but I still have a lot of trouble finding OTR shirts that will fit my chest and shoulders yet be short enough to wear untucked.

What the tailor gave me were shirts with the perfect length in front and back, but drastically higher on the sides (cut differently than the test shirt).

Originally Posted by impolyt_one
cut off a little more and turn them into shirt-bras

laugh.gif
this might be my only option... Seriously though, does anyone think slimming them and squaring the hems a little may be my best bet?
 

pickpackpockpuck

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Originally Posted by dmass1
Like Meso said, I'm considering slimming the shirts to atleast make the proportions right and having the tailor chop the extra fabric in front and on the tail to make it more wearable untucked. I figured they may be passable for s/s shirts. My one concern is that some of these shirts are a little too formal for this. What have I got to lose at this point?

Anyone think this is a bad idea?


I think you should do this to the less formal shirts and just resign yourself to wearing them untucked. For the more formal shirts, you can have the tailor sew the extra fabric back in like a gusset so that it blends and just continue to wear them tucked. This way hopefully all the shirts will continue to be wearable, at least.

Originally Posted by meso
If it makes you feel better, I completely fucked up a $75 shirt the other day before I even had time to wear it. I swear man, I should hide my sewing machine from myself some days.

I just got a sewing machine and I'm terrified of this.
uhoh.gif
 

TheDroog

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Originally Posted by dmass1
My logic was that with some decent tailoring, I could make my shirts more versatile by cutting them to a length that would allow me to wear tucked in as well as untucked. Are you saying that you must have some shirts for tucking and some for wearing untucked? In my opinion, these are not mutually exclusive, and the first one he hemmed proves this. I'm 5 ft 7, 165 lbs with a 40 inch chest and a 32 inch waist. Not the most drastic drop around, but I still have a lot of trouble finding OTR shirts that will fit my chest and shoulders yet be short enough to wear untucked. What the tailor gave me were shirts with the perfect length in front and back, but drastically higher on the sides (cut differently than the test shirt).
Okay, I see. Personally, I don't try to find shirts that do double duty. It's pretty impossible for a shirt to be long enough to stay tucked in all day and then short enough to look good untucked. Your shirts sound too short for tucking to be a solid option anymore, so I'd wear them untucked and just be more careful in the future. If they look bad untucked, maybe they're still too long and need to be raised further. Penguin usually has shirts cut to the right length for the untucked look, see pic below:
1DSW0035_449_I_default.jpg
 

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