Bespoke Cutter And Tailor

Hello all!

I can't tell you how good my jacket toile looks right now, I'm well chuffed. However I have a 'dowager curve' - a rounded upper back that's more like a bit of a small lump in the center - and that's the last lil bit to do before I can run off a test jacket and start fretting about sleeve fit.

I'm using Fitting Patterns & Alterations by Liechty, Rasband, & Pottberg-Steineckert, it's somewhat hamfistedly written and over-stuffed but the actual advice is good when you can decode it. They say:

• to slide the back shoulder tip up the front shoulder line until ripples at the back scye are gone.
• this aligns the vertical and horizontal balance lines correctly all down the back, preventing horizontal lines that droop at the outer edges and big diagonal folds under the shoulder blades
• next, make the back neckline very flat
• finally, there will be a bubble of fabric left over between the neck and shoulder, which needs to go into a neck dart (rather than a shoulder dart) radiating from the lil hump (rather than your shoulder blades)

They're writing for women'swear. I've done some digging and I see suit jackets don't tend to do neck/shoulder/scye darts - obvs because a good jacket uses shrinkable wool to sculpt to shape. I've also found Terri's blog posts on the topic (thank you so much for continuing to blog, a great lost art and an invaluable source of knowledge).

Terri writes that stoopy upper backs are hard to fit, and about hiding a shoulder dart in a stripe. Aside from this, I've found advice on how to convert a neck dart into ease in the back shoulder and back armscye which you then ease onto the other piece.

The first thing I intend to do with my finished jacket sloper is adjust some cheap 2nd hand suit jackets for a better fit, and none of those are real wool I think - one seems like silk or poly-silk, and the others are wool-blends or faux wool. I'm not sure whether I should attempt to ease a bigger back shoulder seam onto a smaller front shoulder seam in these textiles, and because of the cutting required it really is a decision I have to make before trying it.

It seems like i have three options here:

• Leave ease in the scye and back shoulder line & cross my fingers it will go nicely into the other pattern pieces
• Attempt to pad the shoulder so the figure distortion is not so dramatic (my upper back is very gnarly)
• Put in a neck dart (these jackets are only for clubbing in & costume, the world won't end if there's an unorthodox dart)
• other things I've not considered?
• hit the gym and sort my posture

What do you think? What's traditional? Know any hacks? Any experience sorting out this kind of fit in non-wool textiles? Cheers all, I can't believe I'm this close to an adequately-fitting garment, I look unbelievably good.

I can't offer any detailed advice, but personally I don't have a problem with neck darts. It seems that it's only tailors who do (the average person won't notice them unless they're pointed out). Even then, periodically the Tailor and Cutter would try to persuade their brethren to give them a try; so those at the top of the profession clearly didn't see any shame in including them. 

Quote from: Gerry on March 14, 2025, 11:58:44 PMI can't offer any detailed advice, but personally I don't have a problem with neck darts. It seems that it's only tailors who do (the average person won't notice them unless they're pointed out). Even then, periodically the Tailor and Cutter would try to persuade their brethren to give them a try; so those at the top of the profession clearly didn't see any shame in including them. 

I know, only my little red control light starts blinking when both lengths of the darts are different to compensate for a pronounced shoulder blade etc... It takes an "iron magnate"like GGreger to figure that out, much more execute it...

Cheers, Hendrick

I don't get exactly where the hump in the center of your back is? High at the neck or more at shoulder blade hight?
I would be OK with the resulting neck darts as long as they are on grain. Bias darts are horrible.
But once you've established a dart in you pattern you can manipulate it to wherever it is best. On grain for example or towards the shoulder seam so you can ease it in.