The purpose of shoulder pads

Last night after posting about the collar progress, I decided to push on. The sleeves had been cut out for a few days, but I sewed them together (no surprises there) and pinned one into the jacket.

I had to be careful how I pinned, because someone doesn't understand that the price of custom clothing is the occasional pin stab. He still yells ouch every time it happens. I barely notice anymore when I stick myself.

Happily, these sleeves need almost no easing, which is only right. Menswear has so much less ease in the sleeves than womens wear, and I am a big believer in Kathleen Fasanella's Sleeve Cap Ease is Bogus. That article was such a sewing epiphany for me!

So I have the right sleeve in, and I bring out the jacket for its intended victim to try on. Of course I come armed with the camera, which he doesn't understand. It's sewing, right? Why do you need pictures?

What he doesn't get is the photos aren't just for posting here. I like having a visual reference of where I've gone with a project to keep myself on track if I ever encounter the same thing again. I wish I'd photographed the collar process, but I was afraid to actually put it down and take its pciture in case it got away.

The first photo above left is the sleeve without a shoulder pad. I intend to put pads in the jacket, I just like to see the difference - and there really is one. It's not like he doesn't have shoulders. I've done sloping shoulder adjustments on shirts for him but I didn't want to do that with the jacket; I thought I could fix things with appropriate padding, and it looks like it's going to work. The padded shoulder (second photo) looks much better.

The difference in fit is even more obvious from the back. Photo 3: I can see with the sleeve set in that I need to fiddle with the jacket back and the back of the sleeve, because there's just a skooch (serious technical sewing term) too much fabric there. And it's way more noticeable with the shoulder pad in, as seen in the last photo where I'm pinching out a little excess.

I guess empty it sat lower on his shoulder and the space was filled by his back, which is wide at that point. Raised, it leaves a little gap, which will soon be gone.

Not sure how much sewing will occur before the weekend - I have a girlfriend coming over tonight in need of wine and estrogen therapy. Aren't we all? Mario's office party is tonight, so he'll be a little late, and mine is tomorrow night, which means if I felt like it I could be out all night. They're quite the party crowd.

We have a friend's Christmas party to go to tomorrow night after I escape the co-workers, so Friday night is a sewing loss, though not a social one.

Saturday: shopping, cooking, working on a house project (another one), and yes, definitely sewing. This jacket may not be a Christmas gift, per se, but he's going to wear it for Christmas or I'll know the reason why.