Yet another jacket fitting thread...

[Dunc]

So, after many years of telling anybody who asked that I was absolutely never going to try making a jacket, on the grounds that it's way too hard and I'm not completely mad, it seems I have finally taken leave of my senses entirely and fallen down the rabbit hole.

Firstly, I should say that my main objective here is to try and develop at least some grasp of construction. I had not originally intended to put much effort at all (if any) into fitting, and I'm still keen not to get overly bogged-down... Having said that, I think it's not too far out, and so I figure that it's maybe not a bad idea to make at least some effort to correct the most obvious deficiencies.

The pattern is not one I've drafted myself - it's the one Patrick Grant released last year to accompany his book The Savile Row Suit: The Art of Bespoke Tailoring. Fortunately it was quite close to my size. I made a toile from it and did some initial alterations, which were:

• Altered the shoulder pitch for my sloped shoulders
• Let out at the back / side seam, as I am apparently a little more portly than Mr Grant
• Attempted to adjust for my low right shoulder

As I've worked through it, I've come to realise that the pattern was somewhat lacking in reference points and balance marks, which I really should have done something about while I had the chance, but it's probably a bit late now...

In terms of construction, I've been mainly following the International School of Tailoring "Traditional Model" course from Reza over on YouTube, which I've found extremely helpful, but since I'm not using his pattern or materials, I've ended up deviating a bit here and there. I've also perhaps got a bit ahead of myself and put the pockets in already, having started out more following the construction sequence from Cabrera, along with bits from Grant. What can I say, I like making pockets!

I've now got it basted up as far as attaching the undercollar, and I'm not entirely unhappy with it, but there are some fairly obvious issues.

The first set of photos are with it unfastened:



Apologies for the dark fabric and poor lighting - the light isn't great here in Scotland in January, and my big softbox is up in the attic somewhere... Hopefully you can make it out OK.

So, the fronts seem to be hanging parallel OK when viewed from the front, and the low shoulder adjustment seems to have worked not too badly, but the side view shows that I've got what I believe is a front / back balance issue, with the chest and hem lines both rising quite noticeably from back to front. (I regret not marking a clearer waist line on the fronts.) The back view shows some bunching at the waist, along with some issues around the shoulder blades. Those might be the result of too much gather in the back armscye, or even just my hamfisted attempts at putting the shoulder pads in, but I think the balance issue is probably the most important thing. The back neck may also be a little high.

Second set of photos with the fronts pinned together... 



Much the same, but the bunching at the back waist is a bit more evident. I'm not sure how much of that is down to the balance issue, and how much is me putting on weight over Christmas...

So, the question is, have I diagnosed the balance issue correctly, and if so, how best to sort it out? Can I get away with just passing the sidebody upwards relative to the back at the side seam, and then adjusting the hem length to compensate, or do I need to open the pattern horizontally above the chest line? Or something else entirely?

I think I have a decent amount of inlay in all the usual places, so there should be plenty of scope for modifications.

Thanks in advance for your consideration and assistance!

[peterle]

The first I can see is that the basting gathers the back Center seam a bit. Try to get it more relaxed for the fitting.
The second is, the basting of the shoulder pads forces the fabric of the back. Just remove the stitches so we can see where the fabric wants to go. Let the pads find their right position and baste them to the front canvas only
 The armholes seem tight. When changing the shoulder slope did you move the whole armhole lower or just the shoulder tip? Do you have some inlay at the front shoulder?
Yes, there is surplus length bunching in the center back and the front wants downwards.
Probably just a to long back balance. Pin or baste 2-3 cm away across the back from armhole to armhole and look what happens.

[Dunc]

Hi Peter!

I changed the shoulder slope using the procedure given by Cabrera, which moves the neck point up instead of moving the shoulder point down, so the armscye still should have its original circumference. And when I made the low shoulder adjustment for the right shoulder, I did lower the top of the side body as well. I may have gathered the back of the armscye too much, that was a step that I really wasn't too clear on... But yes, I have a good bit of inlay at the front shoulder.

I'll try your suggestions and see how I get on.

[peterle]

Good, you have an inlay, you will probably need it to let the front down.
I m not familiar with the Carbera method, but this will increase the armhole depth and the back length. Maybe that's why the back balance is too long and your waist line is so much deeper than your natural waist.  How much did you raise the neckhole?

[Dunc]

1cm at the neck point, on both front and back patterns.

One question about your suggestion to pin up across the back - at what level?

[peterle]

Somewhere mid armhole. It's not critical. Just for a quick impression.

1 cm is not very much and shouldn't influence the balance when added at the front and at the back.

[Dunc]

OK, here it is with 2cm pinned out across the back. Much better!

[peterle]

Yes, it is much better now. The folds at the back waist disappeared the slashes don't gape anymore and the fabric doesn't cling to the love handles anymore.(Is there a more appropriate term?).
But I think it is probably a bit too much. It seems the waist is a bit lifted away from the body, the coat lacks "waist closure" as we say in German. The Fish tail folds below the waist at the center back are another hint.
Did you do some iron work at the back parts before assambling?

[Dunc]

No, no iron work on the back before assembly, but there has been a bit of gathering / compression at the back scye (below the back pitch mark) after the shoulders were basted.

[peterle]

How did you gather de scye? With chain stitch?

You need some iron work for waist closure. At waist level you should stretch the side seam of the side panel and the back panel and the center back seam and it's inlay.
The cross marks mean stretching:








Pics from "Der Zuschnitt in der Herrenschneiderei" edition XVII by M.Mueller&Sohn

[Dunc]

Yes, chain stitch (at least I think that's what it's called) and compression with the iron to gather the back scye.

That ironwork on the back and sidebody makes perfect sense, and on double-checking I see it's mentioned in Cabrera too. I think perhaps I had decided to keep the shaping to a minimum until I'd seen how it came together, but it could just be that I overlooked it... Anyway, I'll take a note that that needs to be done, but unless you think it's critical, I think I'll leave it for now.

My intended next step was to start work on the sleeves. I guess my question now is around how to actually implement this change to the balance, now that we've established what's needed, and whether it will affect the armhole. Obviously there's no point working on the sleeves if the armhole is going to change...