Small armholes
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YoungLawyer
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Is it at all possible to make an armhole smaller once a coat has been completed?
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YoungLawyer
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- Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 3:39 pm
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Some more detail behind the question:
I've taken delivery of the tails, finally, and they do look superb. Most of the work is to my eye absolutely perfect. However, I had a good look at them at home, and one thing that seems to have crept up without me noticing is the diameter of the sleeve, and the sleevehead is a more oval shape than I had anticipated. I did ask for very small armholes at the start, although I didn't make a thing of asking for a 'conductor's cut' or anything like that, and at the first fitting they did seem smaller, although without a lining in, it did seem difficult for me to judge. The tailor did adjust the sleeves to make them slightly wider at the second fitting, as they were too close to my forearm, but I didn't think that the armhole would be altered. The actual coat does now seem to move quite a bit when I move my arms, which I hadn't noticed (but perhaps I didn't move around enough) at earlier fittings.
I'm going to take the tails back, as asked, when I've worn them for several evenings, which will be in a month or so (for the first time on Saturday).
There will be a few other (minor) things to adjust then, inter alia, the length of the tails (which are possibly to be shortened slightly, and the skirt a fraction more open), and I suspect I'll also ask to take in a very small amount from the side body and back - perhaps a matter of cm - to make the natural waist a little more defined, and the mop buttons seem to have been sewn into the waistcoat (they should be removable, and that's a simple case of unstiching a small patch of the lining of the waistcoat), and finally the waistcoat might be slimmer (but I'll wash it a few times first to make sure). I don't anticipate there being much of a problem with solving those things (although there obviously some things to improve), but I'm slightly concerned about how to deal with the arms. So can the shape of the armhole be adjusted/ how easily/ what's the best way to proceed?
If that sounds negative, I'm generally very impressed, the trousers in particular are a work of art, and the way the coat and waistcoat coordinate is beautiful. It's just very annoying about the arms!
On an historical aside, were Edwardian tails generally cut with wider sleeves than later coats? The morning coat I had altered last week started off with very wide sleeves, but the length was fine, and the chap it was made for couldn't have been very much fatter than I. As the dress coat I've just had made was essentially cut to a late Victorian/Edwardian pattern (coat cut with strap), I wondered if there had been some precedent which my tailor followed to make sleeves that way.
I've taken delivery of the tails, finally, and they do look superb. Most of the work is to my eye absolutely perfect. However, I had a good look at them at home, and one thing that seems to have crept up without me noticing is the diameter of the sleeve, and the sleevehead is a more oval shape than I had anticipated. I did ask for very small armholes at the start, although I didn't make a thing of asking for a 'conductor's cut' or anything like that, and at the first fitting they did seem smaller, although without a lining in, it did seem difficult for me to judge. The tailor did adjust the sleeves to make them slightly wider at the second fitting, as they were too close to my forearm, but I didn't think that the armhole would be altered. The actual coat does now seem to move quite a bit when I move my arms, which I hadn't noticed (but perhaps I didn't move around enough) at earlier fittings.
I'm going to take the tails back, as asked, when I've worn them for several evenings, which will be in a month or so (for the first time on Saturday).
There will be a few other (minor) things to adjust then, inter alia, the length of the tails (which are possibly to be shortened slightly, and the skirt a fraction more open), and I suspect I'll also ask to take in a very small amount from the side body and back - perhaps a matter of cm - to make the natural waist a little more defined, and the mop buttons seem to have been sewn into the waistcoat (they should be removable, and that's a simple case of unstiching a small patch of the lining of the waistcoat), and finally the waistcoat might be slimmer (but I'll wash it a few times first to make sure). I don't anticipate there being much of a problem with solving those things (although there obviously some things to improve), but I'm slightly concerned about how to deal with the arms. So can the shape of the armhole be adjusted/ how easily/ what's the best way to proceed?
If that sounds negative, I'm generally very impressed, the trousers in particular are a work of art, and the way the coat and waistcoat coordinate is beautiful. It's just very annoying about the arms!
On an historical aside, were Edwardian tails generally cut with wider sleeves than later coats? The morning coat I had altered last week started off with very wide sleeves, but the length was fine, and the chap it was made for couldn't have been very much fatter than I. As the dress coat I've just had made was essentially cut to a late Victorian/Edwardian pattern (coat cut with strap), I wondered if there had been some precedent which my tailor followed to make sleeves that way.
I would suggest posting some pictures of your tails. Many of us are curious to see your tailor's work now that we have been talking about it for a bit...
It would a surprise to see the armholes too big and an oval shape is normal. Let's see..
Cheers
Michael
It would a surprise to see the armholes too big and an oval shape is normal. Let's see..
Cheers
Michael
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YoungLawyer
- Posts: 154
- Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 3:39 pm
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http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss18 ... ilsnew.jpg
http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss18 ... lsnew2.jpg
Two perhaps unhelpful pictures, I'll post more soon.
http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss18 ... lsnew2.jpg
Two perhaps unhelpful pictures, I'll post more soon.
Looking forward to additional pictures as well. Here's a nice one recently posted by Edwin DeBoise on his blog, of a flannel suit made for a young architect to be married in (lucky chap, I'd say). It shows what Edwin (and probably most others) considers a high armhole in action. Perhaps you could strike an equally diagnostic pose:
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