space between sleeve edge and button

[Guest]

What is the minimum acceptable space between the last cuff button and the edge of the sleeve? 1"?

[Guest]

To my eye, functional sleeve buttons cannot be as close to the sleeve edge as purely decorative buttons because the extra detailing of the buttonhole added to the button creates a cluttered look when too close to the sleeve edge. Conventional wisdom, to which I subscribe in this instance, dictates about 3/4 inch between sleeve edge and first button, but I think freestanding buttons can be as close as 1/2 inch without looking odd. While we're at it, I don’t understand the hoo-hah about functioning sleeve buttons, unless one contemplates actually unbuttoning one or more to turn back the sleeves. And did surgeons ever really operate in their suit jackets and so need to turn back the sleeves to keep them from dragging through open wounds?

Oldog/oldtrix

[Guest]

While we're at it, I don’t understand the hoo-hah about functioning sleeve buttons, unless one contemplates actually unbuttoning one or more to turn back the sleeves. And did surgeons ever really operate in their suit jackets and so need to turn back the sleeves to keep them from dragging through open wounds?

I know a couple of gentlemen who leave the first button unbuttoned, as to show off they have tailored suits. I, for one, would pretty much prefer the "quiet elegance" I saw discussed elsewhere on this forum, and favour the functioning buttonholes (for the quality and superior fit of tailored/bespoke) but leaving them properly done (as not to be a "show-off").

Miles Messervy

[Guest]

Our distinguished tailors may correct me, but I believe the most usual spacing for Savile Row makers is one and a quarter inches from sleeve edge, given four buttons on the sleeve. It would make sense for this to vary somewhat with the length of the sleeve (a 28" sleeve might look better-proportioned with the end button a bit closer to the edge than on a 35" sleeve) and perhaps the number of buttons (a one- or two-button treatment might end a bit closer to the edge).

As to surgeons operating in suits, here's Thomas Eakins's famous 1875 painting "The Gross Clinic" in which Dr. Gross and his associates perform a procedure in a medical school operating theater in their streetwear suits. Note the open leather cases of (unsterilized) instruments in the foreground. I don't see turned-back coat sleeves here, but the image makes clear why surgeons well might do so:



After Lister's discoveries and the introduction of efforts at asepsis, Eakins in 1889 painted "The Agnew Clinic" showing Dr. Agnew and his staff in sterilized cotton gowns/coats over their clothes, with sterilized instruments and a nurse in attendance:



- couch

[Guest]

Dr. Pean used to operate only in full evening dress for the solemnity of the medical act. Here he is immortalized by Toulouse-Lautrec:



It would have taken a different painter to make out whether his cuffs were buttoned or not...

[Guest]

In Germany the basic distance is between min. 3cm(1.18 inches) to max. 4,5cm(1.78 inches), with the button edge half the buttons diameter away from the slit edge. I guess it is a matter of taste and of the thickness of the cloth.
Besides: Many MTM producers offer working buttonholes. You will need good eyes to find out, if the holes are hand- or machinemade.