Question about altering suit jacket sleeve length...

I have 2 suit jackets that need to be shortened about an inch, but
there are buttons & buttonholes on the wrist. How do tailors usually do
this alteration? Do they shorten from the wrist or do they reset the
sleeve and shorten from the shoulder?
The cleaners on my block want to shorten from the wrist and move the
buttons, but that will leave 2 empty buttonholes at the bottom of the
sleeve. I think that would look terrible. But I think resetting the
sleeve would be a lot more expensive.
Has anyone had this alteration done? TIA.

"scorpio00g...@cs.com" <scorpio00g...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1142553735.674314.172...@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com...
Resetting the sleeve would be very difficult. If they are shortening
from the wrist why are the buttonholes still visible but if they are, it
is easy to change the buttons.
Audrey

ahmward wrote:
The jacket are very similar to this one:
http://www.bananarepublic.com/Asset_Archive/BRWeb/Assets/Product/368/368540/back/br368540–00p02v01.jpg.
See how the buttons stop about an inch from the edge of the sleeve? I
need to have the sleeves shortened about an inch. If the buttons are
left alone, they'll go all the way to the edge, with one right on the
fold. If the buttons are moved upwards to simulate the original
placement, the 2 empty buttonholes will still be left at the edge.

"scorpio00g...@cs.com" <scorpio00g...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1142562032.361155.101...@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com...
If it has four buttons as in the picture you could possibly make it a
two button and close the buttonholes at the edge. You will probably be
the only person to notice it. I'm sure seamstresses deal with this all
of the time so a good one will have a good solution for you.

"scorpio00g...@cs.com" <scorpio00g...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1142553735.674314.172...@u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com...
Yeah, I have had the sleeves shortened and it looks awful. The buttonholes
are right at the bottom of the sleeve. I had two jackets done (foolishly
not foreseeing the button issue) and I might as well throw them out.
Smokey

"Smokey" <SmokeyinNewEngl...@yahooey.com> wrote in message
news:Yqmdnb7TvqRioIfZRVn–...@comcast.com...
Isn't there any way that this can be done properly? I have a long arm
so the sleeves are never too long for me but I remember that my mother
always needed her sleeves shortened.

There's also the alternative of having the sleeves shortened at the
shoulder. But this is costly and requires a good tailor.

Smokey wrote:
Thanks for sharing that. The woman at the dry cleaner's insisted no one
else would notice, but I'd think they'd have to be blind to NOT notice
it. Plus, one of the jackets is my "interview suit" and I can't have
something that will distract me and make me feel self conscious when
I'm at a job interview.

If the buttonholes aren't cut, removing them shouldn't be an issue, at
least with most fabrics. You could simply have them taken out and the
buttons moved up. Any tailor should be able to do that for $12–$15.

Thanks, Maria, I really appreciate the offer but I've already finished
one sleeve on the black jacket and I ordered grey thread for the other
jacket. The hardest part of the project was setting up my machine and
tracking down my sewing supplies since I live in a tiny apartment with
no space for a permanent setup.

LOL, as much as I hate sewing, I don't think anyone could pay me enough
to make it worthwhile. :P

"ahmward" <nospam.ahmw...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:KMSdnWmQv_mq3YfZRVn–...@giganews.com...
I don't know if there is any reasonable way to shorten jacket sleeves where
there are buttonholes on the sleeve end. Shortening from the shoulder seems
complicated as it seems it must involve reconstructing the sleeve pretty
extensively. I definitely look at this issue before I buy jackets now,
having ruined two.
Smokey

"Smokey" <SmokeyinNewEngl...@yahooey.com> wrote in message
news:Rs2dnbRxxdbkAIfZRVn–...@comcast.com...
I have never re–set a sleeve but do have some sewing experience, and I have
assembled original sleeves. You're all right. Resetting it at the shoulder
is a major job and would probably be costly. Rightly so. Just think. Some
sleeves flare slightly from the shoulder for ease of movement and tighten
somewhat again at the elbow (imperceptibly, but it's there). When moving
this up, some of that larger area would be lost and couldn't be regained
because it would have to be trimmed down to fit into the sleeve opening. If
that area is not an exact fit, it would gather and look ghastly. On top of
that, if the jacket is lined, you are talking more work. Not only do you
have to keep the fabric in check while reassembling but the lining must be
cut and reassembled too. Since seams of lining are sewn when the sleeve is
inside out, piecing the lining back together after the fabric part of the
sleeve is reattached would require handstitching around the whole sleeve
opening. It's just easier to do it at the cuff end – not that the results
are pleasant for you.
Also, if you are not petite and just have shorter arms, you could lose the
elbow alignment. When you look at the pattern for a sleeve, it is slightly
curved to take the shape of our slightly bent arm. If the shortening is
because you are petite then that wouldn't be a problem. Maybe this sheds a
little more light on it.
Jamie

Update: I finished the black jacket on Sunday and it looks quite good.
Yeah, me! I'm planning to take it to the cleaners tomorrow for a good
pressing and I'm sure it will look even better after that. It was
actually an easier job than I expected. And, not surprisingly, the 2nd
sleeve was much easier than the first. I'll probably alter the grey
jacket next weekend, assuming my thread arrives from joann.com.

"scorpio00g...@cs.com" <scorpio00g...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1142910896.586153.247...@v46g2000cwv.googlegroups.com...
I think you have a new second job.

Jamie wrote:
Good points, Jamie, especially regarding the elbow placement. I hadn't
thought of that. You'd think I'd know better because I sew, too,
although not much lately. I tend to stick mostly with simple projects,
like curtains, and a little mending and I really didn't want to deal
with altering a tailored jacket. It sounds like a PIA.
I'm planning to take one of the jackets back to Banana Republic today
and talk to them about it. From talking on the phone, it sounds like
their tailor is experienced with altering this same jacket, so maybe
he/she will make it look better. Since the buttonholes aren't cut, it
may be possible to remove the stitching and press out the stitch marks
and then sew new buttonholes up higher. I'd hesitate to do that myself
since it would be very easy to accidently cut the fabric. My drycleaner
doesn't do buttonholes at all.
After Smokey's story, I think I'll take ONE for now and see how it
looks before I take the 2nd jacket.

scorpio00g...@cs.com wrote:
I agree with you about how the kind of fix your dry–cleanning lady is
proposing will not look fine. As per your description, it sounds like
it will be impossible to make the old buttomholes disappear...and you
will end up with some sort of fabric blemish in that area if you
proceed with her proposed fix.
I have to have a lot of my clothes adjusted so I have had this issue of
shortening the sleeves come up a lot. IME most seamtress at
dry–cleanners usually propose whatever is the easiest thing for them to
do. However, that may or may not concide with your wish to have your
finished outfit look its best. I would suggest you look for a real
tailor.
I have had sleeves shorten from the shoulder with great results
however, it's true it's more expensive $30–35 versus $15–20 (nyc
prices) to just shorten the sleeve from the bottom. IMO the difference
in result is worth the price difference.
One caveat shortening the sleeve from top does require real tailoring
skill that maybe the people at the dry–cleanning don't feel they
have?––hence their reluctance to tackle it from that end. So as I said
before, try to find a good tailor first. Maybe the seamtress at the
original store is the quickest best choice in this case because 1)she
may have more experience with this particular sort of jacket (as you
said.) 2)you may be able to get a reduced or even free alteration if
you have their cc. 3) if in the worse case scenario she ruins it, the
store will have to take it back with no fuzz; eventhough is has been
altered, no?
––Maria

airam1002...@yahoo.com wrote:
I agree with everything you said, Maria. The jackets are both from
Banana Republic, so I went to the store yesterday and learned that
their "tailor" is also only able to do extremely simple alterations.
The SAs told me that alterations are done exactly like the drycleaners
want to do.
I spent yesterday afternoon calling tailors from the phonebook, but I
was getting a lot of hesitation from the ones I talked to, and they
didn't seem confident that they would be able to do this fairly simple
alteration. Something I learned from experience: if a professional
isn't sure about his own ability to do a job, it's highly unlikely that
it will be done properly.
As much as it pains me, it looks like the only tailor in NJ who is
capable of doing the alteration is ME. I rarely sew or do crafts
anymore because I have serious vision problems and I just can't see
well enough to do it without causing myself a lot of pain &
frustration, but it looks like I'll have to do it anyway.

scorpio00g...@cs.com wrote:
I know a good seamstress in Hoboken, if you are close enough to Hoboken
to make it worth your while to travel there email me and I'll be happy
to give you her details.
––Maria