16 replies to this topic

[Bjorn]

Should the fit of a coat always be precise, or is 1-3 inches of room in the waist ok? Have had a coat made mtm, and it is a little wide in the waist, but I find that very comfortable. I'm thinking about having it taken in a little bit, but I'm not sure if I should.

[Todd Hudson]

Yes big, baggy clothes are comfortable. However, pajamas are for bedtime, not leaving the house. A waist-fitted or belted coat will prevent cold wind from traveling up into the chest and chilling you. If you want more cool air to circulate, then keep it baggy.

If you have no opinion about how your coat should fit then you should depend on the people you wish to impress for advice. At least someone, if not you, should be impressed for all the money and time spent on converting the cloth into raiment. Ask your lover or mother which waist fit looks better on you. Then go find a good alterations tailor to fix it.

I will bet that the conclusion will be to go more fitted in the waist. The next question is how do you evaluate an alterations tailor before he/she races your coat under the machine then cuts out the old seams with a razor blade in a flash.

[jeffrey2117]

Should the fit of a coat always be precise, or is 1-3 inches of room in the waist ok? Have had a coat made mtm, and it is a little wide in the waist, but I find that very comfortable. I'm thinking about having it taken in a little bit, but I'm not sure if I should.

Hello Bjorn,

This depends on what purpose you will be wearing the Jacket. If you are wearing this for your work or presentation or other function where you will be viewed by clients, or social functions, you will want a jacket that fits and looks well. If you only wear around the house, then keep fit how you like it.

Concerning finding a good alterations tailor. I will give you good advice.

Call the local alterations shop and if the say the can fix the jacket and qoute price without fitting or asking questions, be alert!

There is always possiblility they will do good job and maybe counter girl is not knowing to present these questions to you. Talk to the one doing your alterations if this is possible for you.

If price is very cheap and a good bargain, beware of this! They will only take one side of lining loose for a few inches, turn jacket inside out and sew up in the waist seam only.

Your underarms of jacket and hips will now appear loose, while your waist of jacket will be pulled too tight.

If your jacket is 3 inches to wide in waist, it may need to be brought in the entire side seams, from armholes through hips.

Try on jacket, stand 6-8 feet in front of mirror to view how others will see you from distance. Then up close for better inspection. If they have three angle mirror, the better that you may see all sides.

I hope this helps you with your alterations needs.

Kind regards

Jeffrey2117

You must be properly fitted and marked. Sides taken in through hips and pressed out, arms reset underarms, lining brought in accordingly, and lining reset and re-attached to jacket.

Finally, come back and try on jacket to see if jacket fits properly.

[Der Zuschneider]

I would be careful with this alteration, only the side seams can be taken in, but not much. Otherwise, if the chest girth has to be taken in as well, it affects the armhole and the sleeve has to be taken out. Then you need to find a tailor and not an alterator and this becomes an expensive major alteration.

I would keep a jacket wide unless you like to walk up and down in Savile Road and swing your hips like they love it there...

[jukes]

I would keep a jacket wide unless you like to walk up and down in Savile Road and swing your hips like they love it there...

Are you now trying to convince everybody that German fit is better than Saville Row - (or is Savile Road a place in Germany) or just yourself.

[Lewis Davies]

in japan they call is serribro or something like that because they couldn't pronounce savile row and its all about the tight at the waist and flared massively at the hips


at the end of the day the if you want it its your choice you pay the £££

[Schneidergott]

Please clarify: Is that an extra 3" at the waist or the total amount compared to your body measurement?
In case of the latter, a 3" ease is quite normal. Plus I have seen a lot of men claiming a coat is too loose while they were pulling at the fronts and the back was seriously snug.
Last call: DZ, that SR remark is not funny. I'm sure I speak for most members here, we've had all enough of it. Quit making such remarks, it doesn't shed a good light on you and won't get you any customers. Not now and not in the future. Nobody wants to deal with a tailor who is disrespecting other craftsmen.

[Der Zuschneider]

I don't like the German potato sacks either. It took me some time to get over the terrible GDR style and the Potato MMS-Style of the 50thies and 60thies.
German cutting made the terrible mistakes of not understanding the shape of the side dart (I call it the potato dart) and the diagonal length in the side body until 1969. So they made terrible potato sacks until 1969. I wonder where was the German taste from 1949 - 1969. Some waist hast to be seen but not way too much.
Even the GDR used the 'Potato dart/Potato side body' until 1989, terrible!

I have seen so called English/Japanese coats that would fit the 'Biene Maja' so much waist suppression they had. The fit tight around the waist like a corset.

[Der Zuschneider]

Please clarify: Is that an extra 3" at the waist or the total amount compared to your body measurement?
In case of the latter, a 3" ease is quite normal. Plus I have seen a lot of men claiming a coat is too loose while they were pulling at the fronts and the back was seriously snug.
Last call: DZ, that SR remark is not funny. I'm sure I speak for most members here, we've had all enough of it. Quit making such remarks, it doesn't shed a good light on you and won't get you any customers. Not now and not in the future. Nobody wants to deal with a tailor who is disrespecting other craftsmen.

Was hast Du denn fuer Probleme...

[Bjorn]

"Please clarify: Is that an extra 3" at the waist or the total amount compared to your body measurement?
In case of the latter, a 3" ease is quite normal. Plus I have seen a lot of men claiming a coat is too loose while they were pulling at the fronts and the back was seriously snug."
Thank you for all your replies! I can send the jacket back for free alterations to the mtm firm, so that is no a problem in itself.
But: I'm not sure what you mean with the above, but I think that if I took it in 3 inches it would be fitted quite tightly, so it's a 3" ease.
I'm mostly asking since OTR fit generally right now is fairly tight, so I'm thinking I can take it in 1" to make it slightly more fitted. But, I have not tried on any suits with a more traditional fit before. I don't want to ruin it. I have a limited understanding of suit alterations, basically as much as reading the usual suspects such as Flusser will get you.I understand it is not as good as a suit that has been through numerous fittings with a good tailor, and since the shoulders fit me so well perhaps I'm nitpicking?I'm not real slim either, so a really tight fit (such as is evident in current polo ads for example) would most probably not work on me.

Edited by Bjorn, 24 April 2012 - 04:54 AM.

[Martin Stall]

Was hast Du denn fuer Probleme...

DZ: the problem is that you have a very negative and criticizing attitude and you regularly offend people with that. I've warned you before, and now I'm giving you a proper warn status.

Once again: BEHAVE. We're all sick, tired, and bored of your constant ranting against everything that's not of Authentic German Origin.

[Terri]

"Please clarify: Is that an extra 3" at the waist or the total amount compared to your body measurement?
In case of the latter, a 3" ease is quite normal. Plus I have seen a lot of men claiming a coat is too loose while they were pulling at the fronts and the back was seriously snug."
Thank you for all your replies! I can send the jacket back for free alterations to the mtm firm, so that is no a problem in itself.
But: I'm not sure what you mean with the above, but I think that if I took it in 3 inches it would be fitted quite tightly, so it's a 3" ease.
I'm mostly asking since OTR fit generally right now is fairly tight, so I'm thinking I can take it in 1" to make it slightly more fitted. But, I have not tried on any suits with a more traditional fit before. I don't want to ruin it. I have a limited understanding of suit alterations, basically as much as reading the usual suspects such as Flusser will get you.I understand it is not as good as a suit that has been through numerous fittings with a good tailor, and since the shoulders fit me so well perhaps I'm nitpicking?I'm not real slim either, so a really tight fit (such as is evident in current polo ads for example) would most probably not work on me.

How did you arrive at the number of 3" too big if you are not sure what SG means when he asks you to clarify?
I am making uniforms right now that are belted fairly snugly, and they are 3" bigger than the body measurement at the waist. That allows for the waistband of the trousers underneath, and not a lot more in a heavy fabric.
3" in total then isn't very much on a suit jacket.

[Bjorn]

If I pull it close overlapping, the length I can pull it past the buttoning point until it tightens is around 3" from buttonhole to button. I'm guessing that is ok then?

[greger]

There is something called ease. If you don't have it then you will be uncomforatable. If you eat a little to much then it won't fit. If you gain a little weight then Good Will will be glad to take it. And if you don't have air flow then you will feel clammy. Ease gives you room to move around within. A garment that looks close fitting but feels loose is a garment to have. 3 inches is not to much ease.

[greger]

I would be careful with this alteration, only the side seams can be taken in, but not much. Otherwise, if the chest girth has to be taken in as well, it affects the armhole and the sleeve has to be taken out. Then you need to find a tailor and not an alterator and this becomes an expensive major alteration.

I would keep a jacket wide unless you like to walk up and down in Savile Road and swing your hips like they love it there...

I find this to be an anti tailoring statement. Why? Tailoring is ever changing. Your instructors of the past would probably not be living the rules they taught you because they were for a certain time period and a group of people. If you can't keep up with the ever changing clothes and cultures then how can you call yourself a tailor? Throughout the hundreds of years that tailors made clothes there were times when they could hardly wait for a passing fashion to be done so something new, hopefully better, would take its place. We all have personal likes and dislikes, which dislikes should barely be spoken, if at all. And, of course, life would get boring rather quickly if there were no changes.

Besides, are you to fat to wear a waisted coat?

[Bjorn]

1335231876[/url]' post='28993']
There is something called ease. If you don't have it then you will be uncomforatable. If you eat a little to much then it won't fit. If you gain a little weight then Good Will will be glad to take it. And if you don't have air flow then you will feel clammy. Ease gives you room to move around within. A garment that looks close fitting but feels loose is a garment to have. 3 inches is not to much ease.

OTR suits are sold with very little ease... I sort of hoped that was the case.
Thank you for your reply.

[greger]

OTR suits coats are ment to fit the chest, then everything else is altered where possible. OTR is somebody elses art. When you go to a tailor you are starting with a clean slate, which means you can do whatever you want that the tailor is capable to create. Many people today don't even know that clothes should be, in most cases, art. If you went to design school you would learn very quickly that it is about art. If clothes were just something to wear they would be very simple and boreing. Fashions, fads and trends are all about art. It is why we wear clothes different than the past, or, bring back some of the past. Art is sometimes about fun. Really, what are lapels for? Tailors of the past have turned them into fun and some customers have come up with their own ideas of what to do with lapels. There are different ways of doing shoulders, sleeve caps, collars, to name a few. While you may want to be current in todays fashions you don't have to be a direct copy (at least I wouldn't). Tailoring allows you to be current, but, unique. OTR can't very well be unique, but it allows the common person to have fun.