What's up with the tailoring on this suit jacket? Advice sought!!

Okay, so I bought this suit jacket (80% wool/20% poly or something like that) at the Banana Republic Factory Store. I had my sale goggles on, and bought it even though it was too big because I needed a gray jacket. I kept it for ages and only wore it once, until I recently had it tailored (the tailoring was actually kind of an experiment for me as well, since I'd never had a jacket tailored before).

Anyway, the body of the jacket was taken in (there was way too much fabric around the bust area, and the bottom part flared out too much). I think the sleeves were slimmed, too. The shoulders already fit (from what I can tell?), so those weren't touched. Overall, it looks a heck of a lot better than it used to. But...

I CAN'T RAISE MY ARMS!!!

Please look at the following pics and tell me, what do I need to have the tailor "let out" in order for me to be able to comfortably lift my arms enough to (comfortably) drive, type, etc!

Pic 1: just to show that the jacket looks normal when I'm standing straight
Pic 2: closeup of shoulder/chest area
Pic 3: raising my arms to the side
Pic 4: raising my arms out in front of myself

(To be fair, I only wore the jacket once before finally getting it altered, and I'm not totally sure that it did not already have this problem before alterations.)

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13 years ago

cjh

(website)

Veteran

At first glance, it looks like fabric was taken out of the jacket body AND the sleeves by making the armseye bigger. If the chest area, above the level of the arm pit, needed to be taken in, it should've been done by taking in a princess seam, if that was possible, or by removing the sleeves and recutting the body pieces.

Actually, it is possible this jacket was really too big in the shoulders to begin with, and the tailor tried to correct that. Frankly, and I don't want you to be too disappointed or hurt, but I recommend asking for your money back for a botched tailoring job.

What do our other expert seamstresses, or those who have had tailoring done, think about my evaluation?

shoppingisfun

Thanks for the response. What is an "armseye?" I know the armpit holes (is that the same as an armseye?) were made smaller, because they were super low to begin with and I requested that they be taken up. I wish I had taken "before" pics, but to the best of my memory, the shoulders fit the same as they always did (what I mean by that is that the shoulder seam itself its my shoulder in the same spot that it did before). Weirdly, I have an H&M jacket that is, in my estimation, actually too narrow in the shoulders, but I can move around in that one just fine!

To be totally honest, when the tailor pinned me up and asked if things were right, I did not try lifting my arms or anything like that! I know better now.

ETA: This is hard to explain, especially for me, a non-sewing person who does not know all the proper terminology! Anyway, it wasn't the area above the armpit that needed to be taken in...it was more like the fabric at the side, under the armpit. Like, it would have fit well if I had a big, droopy bust! From what I understood (the tailor does not speak English that well), it was taken in under the armpit, at the side seam. The armholes (I think) were made smaller, and the sleeves slimmed at the same time. I could be wrong though!!

Jem

Usually, the reason that you can't move your arms is because the armhole is too low under your arm. If the armcye is smaller (up closer to your armpit) your arms will have more mobility, if that all makes sense.

Jem: Really? That seems counter-intuitive! I'd have guessed that a bigger armhole would make movement easier. Could the armhole potentially be taken up to avoid this problem? I'm 99% sure it was already taken up the first time, but maybe it could come up more? I honestly don't know if the jacket had this problem BEFORE I took it to the tailor, as I'd owned it for many months but only wore it one time, for a few hours.

Oh yeah, and don't you ladies worry about hurting my feelings or disappointing me! Like I said, this whole exercise was kind of an experiment for me...I already hated the jacket, so just kind of wanted to see what could be done with it. I actually like the way it looks when I'm standing with my arms at my sides (I'm telling you, it really is better than it used to be).

I know, it sounds strange. Try pulling the shoulder area up so the underarm is closer to your underarm. See if you arm can move around then. I don't know if there is a fix for that. It really needs *more* fabric under the arm (to raise the seam up) A tailor might have a solution for it, though.

Wow Jem, I did some googling and it looks like you're right about the armhole problem. I read that it is fixable, but only if the arm (and chest) is slimmed at the same time. Too bad the arms and chest of my jacket were already slimmed! Of course, if they left the excess fabric under the lining, I'd guess they could just take it back out again....

Honestly, I am not too upset with my tailor, as it is my fault that I did not try moving around in the jacket before I told her that the pinning was fine, nor after I tried it on post-alterations at the tailoring shop! I'm sure she would have at least tried to fix it for me at the time, but this was many weeks ago now.

Honestly, I'd rather have a different jacket anyway (I look way better in dark gray than light gray!), but I kind of have to make do with this one for awhile.

Vildy

Jem is completely right. And your tailor should have known better. A low armhole in a larger garment is usually sewn so that the front inner edge is farther toward the center chest than you want it. There is no real fix without completely recutting the jacket. I know because I do my own alterations. You can cheat just a little bit but it's not the most flattering. What the problem is is that a football shaped piece is "missing" when it's made smaller. There's no fabric there. Because if you pull the sleeve back toward where it's supposed to be, there's a space. There's no invisible way to fix that. Though we should all agree that it's ever so stylish to have a patch there and then we could alter our larger jackets willy nilly.

Vildy: A pit-patch! Love it.

I guess this problem is more common in jackets than I thought...my husband says he has a jacket that fits the same way?? His is off-the-rack, never been altered.

san

Excellent explainations ladies! You gave great visuals and I re read and learned alot. It took me a while to get the concept of a football shaped piece that is missing but once I got it, it makes so much sense.

Of course, this all leads me to a new question. Why would the armholes on a 00P jacket be made so large to begin with?? Seems odd to me. I think I'll just keep my arms down until I can find a new jacket. I stand by my earlier statement that the jacket still fits better now than it did before (looks-wise though, not comfort wise). Next time I look for a jacket (they pretty much all will require alterations on me), I will look for higher armholes to begin with. It seems that the body is easier to alter than the arm area!

Firecracker (Sharan)

Armholes were bigger and sleeves were wider several years ago, in a lot of ready-to-wear jackets and in patterns. I think it was part of a more relaxed style.

Firecracker, yeah, I see what you mean...but this jacket is only like a year old! Oh well, like I said, it always fit pretty weird.

The jacket looks really beautiful on you. It drives me crazy though to wear a jacket that restricts my arms. I think I have a very wide upper back. I have to have some stretch in the fabric to be comfortable, otherwise it drives me batty.

Sarah A

I also have a jacket like this where I can't raise my arms although its never been altered, I'll have to try lifting it in the shoulder. Thanks for this informative post!

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