I have already tried sizing up, which just gives me a shirt that gapes slightly less and has shoulder seams halfway down my arms. Double sided fashion tape holds until roughly lunchtime and then lets go, usually in a meeting. I am client facing so I need something I can trust for a whole day, and I would rather not abandon button downs entirely. Has anyone found a fix that actually lasts through washing?
Longer term, the reason this happens is the pattern rather than you. Most button downs are drafted with a straight front and no bust shaping, so all the width you need has to come from making everything else bigger too. Brands that draft specifically for a fuller bust exist and the difference is immediate, because they put the extra room where you need it via darts and a curved placket instead of adding four inches everywhere. I resisted paying more for shirts for years and then bought two and stopped owning the problem.
The fix I do not recommend: a safety pin from the inside. Worked perfectly for about six months until someone took a photo at a work event with a flash and the pin showed straight through the fabric in the picture that went on the company page. It also eventually made a small permanent hole in a shirt I liked. Snaps cost almost nothing and do not do either of those things.
A tailor can do this properly in two ways: add bust darts to the shirts you already own, or take in the shoulders and side seams on the size up you bought so it fits everywhere else. I had four shirts darted at once, it took about a week, and per shirt it cost me less than a single new shirt from the same brand. Worth being clear with the tailor that you want the gape closed, not just a slimmer waist, because those are different alterations and I got the wrong one the first time by being vague.
Good point on being specific. Bring the shirt on and show them the exact gap while it is happening rather than describing it across a counter.
I am going to disagree with everyone recommending alterations. If every single button down you own does this, you are paying a tailor to correct a garment that was never drafted for your body, and you will pay again on the next shirt and the one after. I stopped buying menswear-cut shirts entirely and switched to knit tops with collars and to shirts with a bit of stretch and princess seams for client days. Nobody has ever commented, my mornings got simpler, and I stopped budgeting for alterations altogether.
Snap between the buttons for shirts you own. Better drafted brand for shirts you buy next. Tape is for a single evening, never for a working day.
@darning_dot · last mo. · 4 replies
Sew a small snap between the two buttons that sit either side of the gap. Snap half on the underlap, other half on the placket, both hidden behind the button band. It is a ten minute job by hand, it survives washing indefinitely, and nobody can see it. That is the fix, everything else is a workaround.
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@darning_dot · last mo.
Exactly. Sew-on snaps are pennies for a card of them and you can do six shirts in an evening in front of the television.
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@bobbin_bind · last mo.
So the buttons stay purely decorative at that point and the snap does the work?
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@pannier_pat · last mo.
If you want zero sewing, a tiny stitch through the placket at that one point works too, but it means unbuttoning one below it to get the shirt on.
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