Three Basic Points of Fit: Waist, Shoulder & Length

[FredS]

Came across this very useful,enlightening and insightful piece of advice today whilst scouring the internet.
I am sure it will be helpful to some other folks too. I was obsessing for days after ordering a jacket from Alexander Leathers and now after many e-mails
because of me continually obsessing and changing my mind especially as far as the shoulder and sleeve measurements are concerned, I have finally solved the problem.
Of course (and I hope I'm right as far as this is concerned) when you make the shoulder to shoulder width narrower or smaller the sleeve length will accordingly become longer and using
this same method when you widen or lengthen the shoulder to shoulder width the sleeves will become shorter. All this based on a total measurement from end of sleeve cuff to end of sleeve cuff across the top of the shoulders.

http://putthison.com/post/9394551419/three-basic-points-of-fit-waist-shoulder

 

[Jeff M]

My experiences.....find a leather jacket that fits you the way you like.
Measure it.
Send the measurements to the jacket maker.
A good maker will nail it.

An instructional post from the Vintage Leather Jacket forum on how to measure a leather jaciet;

http://www.vintageleatherjackets.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15194

(You need to sign up to access the forum.....not a problem.)

 

[FredS]

My experiences.....find a leather jacket that fits you the way you like.
Measure it.
Send the measurements to the jacket maker.
A good maker will nail it.

An instructional post from the Vintage Leather Jacket forum on how to measure a leather jaciet;

http://www.vintageleatherjackets.org/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15194

(You need to sign up to access the forum.....not a problem.)

Thanks for the reply. Yes indeed...I found that to be true...after all this obsessing I went to visit my brother who has the same measurements as me and I tried on one of his leather jackets and it fitted perfectly and so we measured all the essential measurements and those are the measurements I have now sent to Alexander Leathers for my jacket. They don't differ too much from my original measurements actually but I now feel confident that they are now spot-on. It's quite a worry of course..one want's to be sure that the shoulders fit perfectly and don't sag or overlap and that the sleeves are the perfect length and don't look too long when the arm is relaxed and hanging down in a straight line and that the cuffs don't ride up beyond the acceptable limit when extending your arms in a horizontal postion.

 

[Seb Lucas]

Measuring is straightforward and has been posted on here many times. Don't forget pit-to-pit (chest) - this is probably more critical than the waist measurement. If you know your measurements then getting a proper fit is easy. But you can still be flexible. For instance I like 20 inches for the shoulders but 19 will fit too. I like 24 pit-to-pit but 23.5 is fine too.

 

[FredS]

Measuring is straightforward and has been posted on here many times. Don't forget pit-to-pit (chest) - this is probably more critical than the waist measurement. If you know your measurements then getting a proper fit is easy. But you can still be flexible. For instance I like 20 inches for the shoulders but 19 will fit too. I like 24 pit-to-pit but 23.5 is fine too.

I see there are two ways of measuring the shoulder seam to seam. Many sites one method and others show another method and the thing is that each method gives a different result. Now which is the correct way? Across the top of the shoulder or straight across the back?

or

And what about the size of the armhole and the position of the armhole and the circumference of the sleeves?

 

[wdw]

I had a long debate with Aero about shoulder widths, with there being a number of ways to measure depending on who you talk to. I believe that's why they don't like to quote shoulder widths, as there's too much scope for confusion.

I think the method most likely to succeed is when you lay it flat on its front and measure in a straight line across from the outer edge of where the shoulder seam meets the sleeve. Definitely not the method in the sketch above.

 

[handymike]

I tend to measure as in the photo..

 

[Justhandguns]

I think some tailors for suits and shirts tend to measure the length of the shoulder/sleeve from the middle your neck to your finger tip. This may be a more accurate measurement as it really depends the design. Some tailors even offset the left/right lengths by an inch as almost all of us have a dominant arm on one side.

 

[Seb Lucas]

I measure shoulders near the top from seam to sleeve seam like in the photo. The tailor method above is easy to get wrong.

The armhole is something I never measure, nor the waist. The pattern will tell you if it's wide or narrow. Eg Indiana Jones jacket wide - Buco j100 narrow.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

measuring from one cuff, over the shoulders and down to the other cuff (as described by OP) would be a mad way to take a measurement.

Determining arm scye depth is a bit more complicated. The best way I've seen involves a tailor's square, tape measure and chalk. Most leather jackets have large/deep enough arm holes that the scye measurement is rendered superfluous for all but the most heavily built upper arms (bodybuilders and the like).

 

[FredS]

measuring from one cuff, over the shoulders and down to the other cuff (as described by OP) would be a mad way to take a measurement.

Determining arm scye depth is a bit more complicated. The best way I've seen involves a tailor's square, tape measure and chalk. Most leather jackets have large/deep enough arm holes that the scye measurement is rendered superfluous for all but the most heavily built upper arms (bodybuilders and the like).

Why is that a mad way? I think it is very accurate. For instance...I measured like this and came to a total of 74.5 inches. I measured that while wearing a perfectly fitting leather jacket that belongs to my brother (who is the same size as me) That tallies with the individual measurements I get when I measure first the left sleeve from cuff to shoulder seam (27inches) then from shoulder seam to shoulder seam (20.5inch) and then from right shoulder seam to end of cuff of right sleeve (27inches) = a total of 74.5 inches. Perfect way to measure imo and 100% accurate for a perfect fit.