How does measuring your measurements for a tailor-made suit work?

Taking measurements is one of the most important steps when you want to have a tailor-made suit made

The measurements you have taken for your tailor-made suit form the basis for drawing your pattern and further assembling your suit.

The measurements are used to define your personal measurements and fit. So, important.

Measuring is done with a centimeter on the body when you have your suit made bespoke, and that is the correct traditional way of making a suit.

I need to have a new suit fitted myself, so we have put this measuring process on the video so that you know what to expect when you want to have a tailor-made suit made yourself.

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How do you recognize a well-made suit?

A good suit, what are its features?

A well-made suit has a number of features that, apart from the fit, make it easy to distinguish it from less well-made suits such as Made-to-Measure suits. The details of a handmade bespoke suit are easy to recognise and quite obvious when you know what to look for. So let's see what are the points to recognise a well-made suit.

Knowledge, skills and love for tailoring are the recipe for a good suit

Did you know that it takes at least 5 years to become a tailor, we are not talking about 8-hour working days but 16 hours?
It takes another 10 years to become a master tailor.
It takes 40/50 hours to make a 3-piece suit.
It takes 30 hours to make a jacket/jacket.
It takes 8 hours to make a pair of pants or vest.

So there is a difference in quality, wearing comfort and price.
And that is reflected and radiated when you wear a well-made bespoke suit.
Easy to recognise, hard to describe.

Pattern

A well-made suit starts with the individual pattern. These are your specific measurements that are then converted onto paper or directly onto the fabric. You then cut this out and then assemble all the loose parts of the suit by hand. If a pattern is not made for you, you are not making but adapting and that has many limitations. This is the difference between a bespoke suit and an MTM suit. Your own pattern means a suit designed specifically for you, the way you want it. A custom pattern is a standard house with a red or green door where the wearer is often told that this is custom work. I would say do your homework and avoid 'tailors' with coffee machines and beers. So always ask for the patterns and you will know whether your suit is really made by a tailor or whether it is simply ordered with nice marketing around it.

Canvas / Interior

A traditional bespoke suit has a canvas (haircloth) that is inserted by hand between the fabric and the lining. Such a suit is also called full canvas or a suit with a loose interior. The role of the canvas is multi-fold:

1. Provides a better fit on the body and especially at the lapels and neck.
2. This also makes the jacket/jacket more flexible and therefore offers more wearing comfort.
3. The suit is made entirely with natural materials.
4. Suit lasts much longer and can be adjusted over the years.

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Altering and adjusting Made-to-Measure suits

Fit of MTM Suits vs Bespoke Suits


Naturally, a bespoke tailored suit represents the pinnacle of fit for the serious sartorial enthusiast and suit wearer. This is because all factors influencing the garment are perfectly tailored to your wishes and are in balance with each other. Between off-the-rack suits and bespoke suits lies the made-to-measure suit, which in the Netherlands is often sold as 'real tailor-made'. The moment you start critically examining it with an expert eye, you quickly see through this and find quite a few points for improvement in the fit.

We are often asked to further alter and adjust a made-to-measure suit so that it fits and looks better.

Below is an explanation of the points we most commonly encounter when altering and adjusting a made-to-measure suit.

Slimming the waist of the jacket: so that it is shaped to your body, also from the back.

Firstly, we took in the jacket. We decided to do this over three seams, which means that in addition to taking in the side seams, the center back seam is also taken in. This allows us to incorporate a jacket, which is not originally cut to the shape of the back, largely into the back, without disturbing the original balance too much. As a result, you get a fit based on your body at the back as well. A point that almost everyone forgets.

Had we only taken it in through the side seams, the hips would remain relatively wide at the bottom, while the rest of the suit becomes tighter

Shortening/Taking in Sleeves: The traditional method means doing this through the shoulder.

Then we moved on to the sleeve length. We shortened them through the shoulder, thereby retaining the ornamental buttonholes that were originally in the jacket. This was important to the gentleman because the top buttonhole is a specific colour, and we wanted to preserve it. If you shorten the sleeve by cutting it from the bottom, the balance is lost; buttons are not just placed at a certain distance on a sleeve for no reason. A fine detail, but very important.

Slimming the trouser sleeves: A more tapered fit is the modern look.

Narrowing and slimming the sleeves of the jacket: Simply applying the modern sporty fit.

After we shortened the sleeve length, we separately made the width of the sleeves narrower. So, we did this in two steps. The reason is that when you shorten a sleeve through the shoulder, you lift the entire sleeve. This changes the shape of the sleeve, moving the narrowest point upwards. Since we did not want the sleeve to possibly become too tight if we did this in one go, we deliberately chose to do this in two steps after consulting, in order to achieve the right and desired result.

The waistcoat has been taken in at the side seams, so that it sits more nicely around the body. This was done through the side seams because if we were to also take in the center seam, the waistcoat would be too tight on the stomach. As a result, this is the maximum in terms of fit. If it had been made bespoke, it would have been possible to cover the curvature of the back and body position as well.

We have made the trouser leg narrower so that it follows the natural contour of the leg more closely. To achieve this, you pin the leg on the body, demonstrating the new fit. This allows you to see in advance whether it is not too tight and won't become uncomfortable. This is the most requested alteration we make, especially with made-to-measure suits and clothing.

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