What is Wednesday.

This weekly Wednesday post is aimed at answering some of the more basic and critical aspects of tailoring and the terminology we use to describe them. It stems from realizing that I’m constantly throwing out different terms with my clients and quite often they’re unsure as to what I exactly mean.  The goal of this section then is to alleviate this terminology gap and provide you with some know-how to talk tailoring with a little more ease.

What is…the difference between square and sloped shoulders?

This question is all about shoulder angle and the two fellows in the image below couldn’t be more different.  To clarify right away – on the left we have an example of square shoulders while on the right we have sloped shoulders.

Another way describing this is to say the shoulders are high (square) or low (sloped).  As the red lines in the image show the height of the shoulder point creates either an upside down “T” or an upside down “Y” – which is which I don’t think I need to say.  For a touch more clarification – a regular or standard shoulders height would be right in the middle between the two.

As for the effects on the garment – someone with square shoulders will find a roll of excess cloth occurring below the collar at the back neck.  Those with sloped shoulders will collapse the the bottom of the armhole as they will physically be putting downward pressure on the hole itself.  This will also lead to stress lines going from the neck area on a diagonal towards the bottom of the armhole area.  As a result what we do is move the armhole either higher or lower in relation neck point to correct this problem.

Like last week this one might have been a touch more technical in terms of the information provided – if that’s the case please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions. Better yet book a free appointment and we can banter in person and see if we might be a good fit to work together.

Take care – Michael

info@martinfishertailors.com