Please, Can anyone tell me how to take a dress jacket and shorten the shoulder width. I know I have to take the sleeve out and redo it but if I cut the shoulder in do I tighten up the sides? I hope I explained OK.
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Replies
If I was you I would use a dart in the shoulder seam.That way you may not have to takethe sleeve out at al
Edited 3/28/2006 10:03 pm ET by mem
I often have to do this for ready to wear. The problem is that you are in effect creating a larger arm hole. After I remove the sleeve, I place a piece of paper under the arm hole and trace it. Once you have a pattern for the armhole you can lay it over the garment and see just how much you might have to take it in on the side seam to make the sleeve fit. I have also used some of what I have removed from the shoulder area to create a gusset in the sleeve seam so it would all fit back together. If the garment is really tight or very good fit across the bust, it can be really hard to make the adjustment you are trying to make. On ready to wear it is really hard to make a dart from the shoulder look good - especially on the front side and most people don't want that done. Another way to decrease the size of the arm hole is to take in the shoulder seam a little tiny bit.
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