# Slimming down sleeves at a tailor?



## santosc (Oct 2, 2011)

Hello everyone:

I hope I posted this question in the right forum. I have a few JOS A Bank Tailored Fit shirts that fit pretty well chest-wise but when I bought them, I hadn't noticed the sleeves being way too billowy (I guess because I was still amateur at buying dress shirts and was pleased that the chest and waist were tapered enough to my satisfaction: as I am bigger in the chest area, slimmer in the waist) but now I am so annoyed by what is going on with the sleeves. 

Can a tailor make the sleeves narrower? I don't know anything about tailoring (never been to one), so am not sure if it's even possible to do. 

Thanks!


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## paul winston (Jun 3, 2006)

No problem to trim the sleeves. Do not trust it to a dry cleaner. Take the shirts to a tailor/shirt maker.


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## Matt S (Jun 15, 2006)

Another common problem is that the armhole is too large. Would that be shrunk too, Paul, if the body is taken in as well?


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## santosc (Oct 2, 2011)

Thanks for the replies, gentlemen. That's a good question, Matt S. I had forgotten about the actual armholes. They are actually pretty large... compared to my Brooks Brothers Extra Slim fit shirts, whose sleeves are perfectly narrow, and have a higher armhole. 

I hope something can be done to these JOS A Bank shirts as I'd hate to give them away.


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## paul winston (Jun 3, 2006)

In theory, things can always be made smaller. Extensive reduction requires re-cutting. ( If you reduce the armhole- there are two ways it can be done - you now have the sleeve head which requires re-cutting to fit the armhole.) At some point the cost of alteration shouts,"Are you familiar with MTM."



Matt S said:


> Another common problem is that the armhole is too large. Would that be shrunk too, Paul, if the body is taken in as well?


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## santosc (Oct 2, 2011)

Thanks Paul. I am starting to wonder if I should bother altering them at all, since it would be cheaper (I am on a strict budget as a broke college grad) to just buy new ones that fit well, or even one or two MTM or bespoke white shirts strictly for interviews, dressy events as I hardly ever dress up. I am a designer, so I don't need them for my profession, but they are must for interviews. Maybe I will just post them up on Ebay and start fresh! Thanks Paul.

By the way, I will look into your services, as I reside in NYC.


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## medhat (Jan 15, 2006)

santosc said:


> Thanks Paul. I am starting to wonder if I should bother altering them at all, since it would be cheaper (I am on a strict budget as a broke college grad) to just buy new ones that fit well, or even one or two MTM or bespoke white shirts strictly for interviews, dressy events as I hardly ever dress up. I am a designer, so I don't need them for my profession, but they are must for interviews. Maybe I will just post them up on Ebay and start fresh! Thanks Paul.
> 
> By the way, I will look into your services, as I reside in NYC.


Yeah, that's the way I went with shirts that weren't quite how I wanted them to fit; seems too much to bother with alterations on RTW items. With bespoke or MTM, it's much easier to have them redone (if it's an error on their end).


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## santosc (Oct 2, 2011)

Thanks Medhat! I will just invest in a few bespoke shirts. You can't go wrong with someone actually measuring you in person and producing a great end result. Now if I can find an affordable bespoke tailor in NYC.


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## mhdena (Jan 4, 2008)

Hit the weight room.


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## santosc (Oct 2, 2011)

Ha, that's funny. I actually do hit weights. but I am destined to be an ectomorph, I guess. I actually am pretty fit, have a larger than normal chest for a slender, small frame, so it's just a matter of getting a tailor to make my shirts instead of buying them off the rack. So far, my attempts at off the rack and even trying "slim fit" has been futile. Even slim fit shirts have billowy sleeves. 

The only one I have been able to buy off rack with ok results has been a Brooks Brothers Extra Slim Fit. It's perfect in the sleeves, shoulders and waist, but a tad tight in the chest, but for now, it will do until I get a tailored made option soon.


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## Ματθαῖος (Jun 17, 2011)

santosc said:


> Thanks Paul. I am starting to wonder if I should bother altering them at all, since it would be cheaper (I am on a strict budget as a broke college grad) to just buy new ones that fit well...


I think that sounds like a good plan!

Matthew


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## javadev (Jan 24, 2013)

santosc said:


> Ha, that's funny. I actually do hit weights. but I am destined to be an ectomorph, I guess. I actually am pretty fit, have a larger than normal chest for a slender, small frame, so it's just a matter of getting a tailor to make my shirts instead of buying them off the rack. So far, my attempts at off the rack and even trying "slim fit" has been futile. Even slim fit shirts have billowy sleeves.
> 
> The only one I have been able to buy off rack with ok results has been a Brooks Brothers Extra Slim Fit. It's perfect in the sleeves, shoulders and waist, but a tad tight in the chest, but for now, it will do until I get a tailored made option soon.


I feel your pain fellow ectomorph. I'm a 38R/31w which seems to a difficult size to fit "close enough" before taking OTR items to the tailor. Like you said, even "slim fit" shirts aren't really slim, they're just less fat.

Depending on where the bulk in your sleeves are, the armholes would almost certainly be made smaller and higher (At least IIRC). That's because if you imagine totally detaching the sleeves and shrinking the tube shaped arms at the shoulders they are going to be smaller than the existing circumference of the shoulder hole left behind. The correction for this is to also alter the side seam of the shirt to have a concave cut going from somewhere mid-length-ish (varies) of the sides up to the shoulder. This allows the fabric to be moved upwards and forward to fit the new armhole size. It also has the effect of removing bulkiness of the shirt in the shoulder blade/torso area and creates a more fitted look.

There are probably other ways to achieve this same effect, I'm not a tailor; but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. YMMV

I would love-love-love to cough up money for bespoke shirts but having two children I'm likely to get dirt/juice/other stain on them before their end of lifecycle has been reached. Until they're both teens I can't justify it. Until then I'll buy shirts that fit properly in the shoulders/etc and are slim-fit enough to require minimal altering.

A local mens store recently sold me an Enro "Tailor Fitted" OTR shirt in 15.5 33 which fit **perfectly**. No alterations required. It's actually what I've been trying to achieve by having the rest of the shirts tailored. They come close but the small shoulder pleats give it enough room to allow the arms to move more comfortable in all directions without pulling the bottom of the shirt out from the waist. I seriously can't tell you how enthused I am to have found this. I have several Enro shirts because they seem to already run slimmer, but the "Tailor Fitted" cut they sell OTR hits the nail on the head for me! I'd highly recommend trying on one of these shirts before chucking out the extra dough for bespoke. The Enro shirt was $45 or $49 (can't recall). For me it's cheaper than "close enough in store + mild alterations". It's your disposable income but for me, I'd rather have that extra money in the piggybank for the next pair of shell cordovan shoes.


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