Long décolletage? Garments pulling towards back? - YouLookFab Forum

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Long décolletage? Garments pulling towards back?

Anonymous

I am calling all ladies with long décolletage or sewing experience.

I am wondering if you have fit problems with garments pulling towards the back.

Recently, I have purchased a couple of shirt dresses that don’t do this. The common theme is that they are two sizes bigger than I normally wear, and I’m wondering if it’s because the armpit area is lower or something like that.

But maybe there is some other reason the larger size doesn’t pull towards the back (like maybe there is more fabric across the back).

If it is a matter of needing more fabric at the back, then that is unexpected, because the tailor has reduced the back fabric on garments for me before.

Ps: I do not have a dowager’s hump or poor posture.

Body Type

19 replies

Latest reply was from Angie

Liz

Veteran

Can you explain what "pulling toward the back" means? Or show a picture of this happening?

Anonymous

Here you can see it I think.

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Anonymous

I know what you mean, and this happens to me a lot. I know tailoring and sewing, but have never considered why this happens. I suspect it happens on tops and dresses with too much ease through the upper back, as you suggest.

Anonymous

I think it might be how the shoulder is tailored as in, unfortunately, not especially well.

I'm not sure of the language or the cause but the single seam across the top of the shoulder always fits badly, my shirts all have yokes.

Anonymous

Isabel—there is a yoke but it’s been pulled to the back, so you’re seeing the front seam of the yoke running along the top of my shoulder.

Aquamarine

Veteran

Not sure why this happens, but it happens frequently to my daughter...a bunch of extra fabric at the top of the back. Curious what the seamstresses among us think.

elpgal

Veteran

Happens to me too except I have a short décolletége. I size up to fit my broad shoulders.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I suspect there may be numerous causes.

I think it can happen when there is a set-in shoulder and the fit on the shoulder or back area is too big.

Here's an older link about it from the forum: https://youlookfab.com/welookf.....is-problem

And one from a sewing discussion group: https://sewing.patternreview.c.....opic/99344

And a similar discussion: https://sewing.patternreview.c.....opic/70269

Another possibility: http://www.alterationsneeded.c.....ix-it.html

In jackets, it's common. Here are some reasons it happens there on men:

https://effortlessgent.com/spo.....-mistakes/

Anonymous

SUZ raises all the good points concerning problem with cut if garment plus I will add one more. If the slope line of your shoulders ( neck to shoulder) is quite a steep drop ( rather than gently sloping) or your muscles distorted ( over / under developed or scoliosis) you will have similar issues in fit.
Unfortunately Remedies will depend on what the individual cause is.
In short- no easy answers

Anonymous

Thanks All!
I looked at the links you provided, @Suz, and my feeling is that the problem is “forward thrusting shoulders” (without the associated “forward head” issue).

When i look at my boden items (which fit well), the top shoulder seam lines up much better with the top of my shoulder. So maybe Boden shirts are cut a little differently to allow for a bit of forward thrust.

Efbegen-I do also have slightly slopes shoulders.

This YouTuber shows my exact problem, and how to fix it on a pattern (but doesn’t help me with ready-to-wear...Ultimately, I think I will just have to stick with Boden, which seems to “get me”.).

YouTuber (she is an EXCELLENT communicator!) :https://youtu.be/LMB61S90bd0

Suz

(website)

Veteran

That's it -- we have to go with the companies that "get" us. Absolutely.

And it can take some hunting to find those manufacturers.

Kari

Veteran

Yes. That’s very much when I develop brand loyalty, because some brands just seem to be cut for someone else’s body shape, and others are tailored more for me.

Like you, though I’m shaped differently, I guess you’d say I have a “long décolletage” because my bust is just lower relative to my shoulders/elbows than most women, even with a very supportive bra. Some brands (like Foxcroft) are so well made but NEVER fit me right, so I reluctantly pass and move on to those that do.

That’s fabulous that Boden works so well for you!

Anonymous

I have narrow & sloped shoulders with your exact issue, clothes shift back on me, drives me bonkers adjusting!

The Cat

Veteran

I do have a long decolletage, but I haven't experienced the problem you mentioned--perhaps because my shoulders are not narrow and not very sloping.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

My shoulders are square but it occasionally happens with me -- usually when the neckline is very wide and loose.

Anonymous

I think my large (therefore lower) bust is part of the problem, too.

Vildy

Veteran

SUZ, thanks so much for the roundup of links. I'm always interested in solving this problem and have several fitting books. But I never considered the counter-intuitive idea that the back neckline is too wide/large. I'm definitely going to pin in some back neck darts the next time I encounter this problem and see it that will solve it. Just by pinching a shirt I'm wearing today as my casual around the house favorite shirt, the mirror tells me that I think it just might.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

I have this issue sometimes but do not have long décolletage, so I don't think that's the problem. But Suz's links are enlightening. I do however have forward leaning shoulders and scoliosis, and one of my shoulders slopes more than the other and is actually narrower than the other -- it's a miracle jackets fit me as well as they do! I think the problem shows up more in less-structured shirts like this that don't have drape, when there is a yoke. I find a lot of tops (and dresses) have too much room in the back, and not enough across the front because of the size of my bust relative to the measurement across my narrow-ish back.

Interesting analysis. Sometimes its really good to understand not just that a fit doesn't work, but WHY it doesn't work.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I have a long décolletage and VERY long neck - but narrow shoulders and a dainty back. I battle to fill things out unless the cut is narrow or I’ve sized down suffieciently. I only have this issue when tops are too fluid and necklines are not tailored. Hence my constant committment to structure, and structure in the right places when tops are fluid. I try to avoid oversized fits.