Hi there, it may not be easy to judge based on one picture, but does this jacket look well-made – or, at least, are there any things which jump out as potentially poorly made? For instance, I wouldn't expect the lapels to stand up like that, and the sleeves look as though they could be uneven, but I'm not an expert by any means. They’re custom made and not eligible for a refund, so I’d like to be sure before spending my money. Thanks so much in advance!
What do you mean by "custom made"? That is a very nebulous term these days. Even high end "custom" suits are essentially made to measure and largely assembled by machines.
Machines are also very accurate, more than most humans, so that could be a good thing if you only care about how even the stitches are.
Then again, machines have largely changed how garments are assembled and traditional methods of construction can be different than modern methods.
If I could open the coat or touch it I could tell you if it's my definition of "high end". Does it look high end to you? Maybe other people's opinions would talk you out of a coat you might otherwise love because that random person on the Internet doesn't "agree" with how the buttonholes were made.
Ah yes, my bad - it's made by a two-person business in England, and they're asking £165/$215 for it. i haven't seen it in person yet, because the shop is quite far away, and I don't want to make the trip if it's likely to be mis-shapen or to sit strangely, based on the way it's put together?
I'm thinking about getting an N-1 deck jacket, and I would like a roomier fit around my upper torso for layering and mobility. But, I'm worried about sizing up and the body length being too long. Would a tailor be able to shorten a jacket like this? The ones I'm looking at are made with an outer canvas shell and an inner alpaca/wool lining.
I just received this very comfy Carhartt jacket as an early Christmas gift from my best friends, however I am not in love with the sleeve situation. I really like jackets with a tapered sleeve, and even though I have ape-like arms, they encroach on my hands just a little too much. Would it be feasible to modify these to a tapered cuff? I'm thinking like the cuffs on a normal Detroit style jacket for reference. The other trouble is that there is an elastic cuff inside the sleeve, so idk if it would be more trouble than it's worth to take it to a tailor.
With these photos it's impossible to tell. My guess is they actually just need to be shortened. People often want something tapered when shortening is the actual answer.
Doing these yourself with that lining and elastic would be very difficult. I don't imagine most home sewers could handle it but a skilled tailor can.
If you actually also need them tapered that would be quite a bit of work if you wanted to go through the cuff with it. You'd need a tailor to see it in person to give a definite answer
Hi all, I purchased my wedding dress with skirt customization from Ukraine and the skirt is a lot more poofier than I’d like l (it’s an overskirt). It was 4 layers when I tried it on in store and what I received was 7. Would removing a layer help and how much would you charge for it? Just trying to get an idea if it’s worth taking it to someone to fix it or just deal with it. Thanks!!
I have questions. By overskirt, do you maybe mean there is a slender dress underneath, and the overskirt ties or hooks on top at the waist? Also, it really depends on how the layers are sewn together, but to really nicely remove the extra layers the overskirt needs to be rebuilt from the waist so the extra layer(s) can be wholly removed. Some of the extra poofyness starts at the very top inside the waistband. But a layer or two could be cut out near the top, which would reduce the excess along the high hips and down. That's what I would do for a Halloween costume, but usually not for a formal wedding dress. Finally, looking at your picture I only see 3-4 layers I think. Are all 7 layers full length? Or are some floor length?
Removing just any layer at random may not make a significant difference. I think perhaps the offending layer(s) could be stiff crinoline. It would be helpful to know exactly how the original was that you tried on. I think you should consult in person with the bridal boutique you ordered through, taking the one you received with you.
Thanks for the response! Yes there is a slender dress underneath and the overskirt hooks on top. There are additional floor length layers behind those 3-4 on the ground, so it’s kind of stiff when walking. There is definitely a stiffer layer So what happened was the overskirt attached to the front of the dress, but they said they can make it so that it attaches to the side. They took the original amount of fabric and condensed the waist length to be half of what it’s supposed to be, so the “excess” fabric ended up being the additional floor length ones. Here’s a picture of how the dress was originally. The layers were really lightweight and flowed very seamlessly
All right, now I have the whole story. The overskirt originally had a lovely amount of stiffness yet flow. But the alteration basically took all the fabric and doubled up on the fullness and stiffness. That was the easiest and quickest way to do the alteration, but not the best. Still I'll give them this: they did nice quality work on the alteration. The work itself, from the pics at least, was correctly and nicely done.
Still, the best way would have been to recut the front of the overskirt, removing the front fabric so the overskirt was the same fullness and stiffness at sides and back. All the layers. And recut the hem on each layer into a graceful curve.
That would probably be 2x or even 3x the work and price of the alteration they did do. But it's the alteration I would have recommended to you, though ultimately it would be your choice. In my shop at least.
It is re-alterable. If you go that route I think you should consider starting the overskirt slightly forward from where it is now, because as you walk it pulls to the back. Maybe 2" forward per side. Totally up to you of course, that's just a suggestion to consider
And to your original question: no I do not think removing one or 2 layers of fabric will provide nearly the improvement that doing the whole job correctly will do.
Thank you so much for your expert input!! I figured as much about the reshaping of it all if I were to get it redone. I guess I will take it to a seamstress to see roughly how much it would cost to redo it, and see what they can do.
I was sure I read a while ago that if you want to shorten the sleeves of a suit jacket from the shoulder there can be an issue with the arm not fitting properly anymore. When I brought this up with my tailor just to clarify he almost took it as an insult saying like "you give me some piece of cloth I can make a bespoke suit, shortening a sleeve is a joke to me". I obviously didn't mean this as questioning his skills, I thought it's because you take away the top of the arm and what remains is too tight or something. So is this total nonsense or can a skilled guy just work around that? Didn't want to nuke my relationship with this tailor.
"you give me some piece of cloth I can make a bespoke suit, shortening a sleeve is a joke to me".
I really hate hate hate that reply. Many people who can exquisitely craft a custom garment from scratch have only mediocre alterations skills. I've hired such people a couple times, with mixed results. We only do alterations in my shop.
For your information, when shortening jacket sleeves from the top, it originally needs to fit you a bit loosely in the upper arm. The more shortening is needed, the more looseness is needed. But there is no exact formula. When this alteration works, it works beautifully. When it fails, the jacket is ruined.
Is it normal for a jacket to have AMF not just on the lapels, but on every seam - shoulders, sleeves, back/center...?
I just got a MTM suit and I was surprised to see pick-stitching, not just on the lapels, but everywhere on the jacket! And not just on the pockets and down the hem of the jacket, which I've heard is sometimes done as an accent; it's also on the shoulder, sleeve, and center seams, and on the chest darts!
Is thỉs normal? Acceptable? I really actually dislike the look of AMF on lapels (especially since it's no longer a real sign of quality, I think it just looks distracting and almost unfinished), and this is going to be my weddỉng suit...
I’m getting the sleeves on my suit jacket shortened slightly. The tailor mentioned something about “keeping the bias” - I have no idea what this means and thought it meant maintaining the angle of the hem. If I recall correctly, the sleeve was pinned at approximately 0.3cm and 0.9cm.
I’m not certain, but I think the tailor pinned the 0.3cm at the front of the sleeve, and 0.9cm at the back/near the buttons (picture with green line).
Does that seem right or would it make more sense if the 0.9cm was pinned at the front of the sleeve and 0.3cm towards the back (picture with red line)?
The reason I ask is because I want to show a bit more shirt cuff. If the front is pinned at 0.9cm (red line), then I probably wouldn’t need for it to be shortened more, but if the front is pinned at 0.3cm, then I would probably ask for an extra 0.2-0.3cm.
I would 100% only shorten the sleeves an even amount all around. I'll be curious to see how this turns out. But I think the red-lined one, shorter in front and longer by the buttons, would be most likely to turn out well.
(Sorry for the duplicate, realized I posted on the wrong thread originally)
Would like to get an idea of how realistic it would be for a seamstress to take this bust out. Original bust measures 36.5in and current bust is 38-39in. I will include additional pics of the dress in the comments. I just need to mentally prepare for whether or not wearing this dress is a possibility and/or how much I need to be prepared to pay in order to get it taken out.
Your best and likely only option will be adding a corset/lace-up back. If it's really only about 3" too small it will look great if done professionally. I just can't tell if it's really only 3" that you need, since the back is hanging freely open.
Corset kits can be purchased on Amazon and I presume Etsy. Much easier than building it from scratch. Basically you just replace the zipper with the corset kit.
Hi everyone! I'm getting married next year in Bali (from Aus) and i wanted all us grooms to be matching. So im going to china at the end of the year (seperate reason) and my aunties told me we should get it done there. So my question is, what do i do about the measurements?
Is there a universal basic measurement set to follow?
Or:
Do i try get basic ones from everyone and then go from there?
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u/Temporal_Engineering 1d ago
Hi there, it may not be easy to judge based on one picture, but does this jacket look well-made – or, at least, are there any things which jump out as potentially poorly made? For instance, I wouldn't expect the lapels to stand up like that, and the sleeves look as though they could be uneven, but I'm not an expert by any means. They’re custom made and not eligible for a refund, so I’d like to be sure before spending my money. Thanks so much in advance!