Adjustment is the process of fine-tuning each detail of a garment so it sits more truly on the wearer's body, posture and habits of movement. These are not large changes, but small corrections that carry a garment to its point of perfection. In tailoring, Mon Amie believes the greatest differences often come from the smallest corrections — and adjustment is where that belief is proven.
What adjustment resolves
A proper adjustment session works toward four aims:
- Refining every detail: bringing the garment closer to the real body rather than the ideal body on the pattern.
- Suiting your posture: balancing the silhouette around how you stand, how you sit and how you move.
- Optimising comfort: easing points that pull, bind or gather when you wear and move.
- Raising the finish: small corrections create a large difference in refinement and polish.
Why adjustment exists in tailoring
- Every body has its particularities and changes over time — a slightly dropped shoulder, a curved back, arms of unequal length are all perfectly ordinary.
- Posture and daily habits affect how a garment feels: a man who drives often, a man at a desk and a man who moves a great deal each need a different degree of closeness.
- Only small corrections make a garment genuinely fit and genuinely flatter — accurate measurements are necessary, but not sufficient.
- The aim is a garment that looks well not only standing still, but in every movement.
- It is the final step that gives a made-to-measure piece its completeness.
Where adjustment shows
- Shoulder and armhole: correcting shoulder slope and armhole fit so the jacket sits calmly and free of ripples.
- Chest and forepart: taking in or easing slightly to create a clean chest line, neither strained nor loose.
- Back: balancing the closeness, the drape and the overall balance so the jacket falls well from behind — the part you never see and others always do.
- Sleeves: correcting length, bicep fit and sleeve pitch so the arm moves freely.
- Trouser waist: taking in or letting out so the waistband fits and rests at its natural position.
- Leg and hem: adjusting taper, length and break for a balanced, crisp line.
The five steps of adjustment
- Assessment: review the whole, listen to how the client feels and note what needs improving.
- Marking: use chalk and pins to mark where to take in, let out or otherwise correct.
- Alteration: take in, let out or, where necessary, rework the structure.
- Second try-on: put the garment on again to check feel, silhouette and comfort.
- Finishing: make the last refinements and complete the details before handover.
The tailor's tools at this stage are modest yet precise: chalk, pins, tape measure, seam ripper and steam iron — each with its role, so the correction is both exact and faithful to the original design.
Principles of good adjustment
- Favour overall balance and do not over-correct — altering one point can affect another.
- Adjust on the living body, standing and seated, never on a mannequin alone.
- Preserve the original design lines.
- Concentrate on the points that most affect the silhouette.
- Record the client's feedback so the next commission is better still.
Adjustment applies across the board: jackets and blazers (shoulder, chest, waist, back, sleeves, length), trousers (waist, seat, thigh, leg, hem, taper), sleeves and cuffs, and the final correction — the last refinement before handover.
A word from Mon Amie's artisans
Mon Amie's tailors have a saying: measuring is science, adjusting is art. A centimetre taken in at the back can change the whole stance; a few millimetres at the hem decide whether a suit looks sharp or looks tired. So with every adjustment we work on your own body, listen to how it feels to you, and keep every note so that the next suit is truer than the last.
Mon Amie provides an alteration guarantee and keeps your measurements for life on every suit, across our five Ho Chi Minh City showrooms (Nguyen Trai, Ho Van Hue, 3/2 Street, Caravelle Hotel District 1, Nguyen Thi Thap). If your suit needs refining, please book an appointment or read about the tailoring process — our hotline 0888.111.118 is always available.