Extra Square Shoulders.
Real square shoulders are seldom to be found unless the form is classed among the humpbacks, when the shoulders may even be higher at the arm than at the neck. By the term “Square Shoulders” is usually understood to be squarer shoulders than are ordinarily found. But right here let me say, that as long as the shoulders are cut on the angle of 135 deg. there is not much danger of getting them too low or too square for almost anyone, for the reason that coats are not to be cut skin-tight at the armhole. The armhole must be larger than the body all around, and no coat feels agreeable or looks well if the armhole is tight-fitting on the top of the arm or at the shoulder seam.
The shoulders should fit at the neck, but not tight. They should hang and balance themselves between the arm and the neck, where neither the movement of the neck nor that of the arms interferes with the coat. At the arm, the shoulders of a well-fitting coat should be loose, and as long as the sleeve fits so that it will not drag the armhole out of place such looseness will remain there, forming a square shoulder.
A shoulder that appears flat on the top, and breaks behind or in front, will always set better when the sleeves are out, because the sleeve-head is too short, pulling the shoulder downward, and it must make a break either in front or back of the arm; and it is for this reason that whenever they try on coats the journeyman is required to baste in one or both sleeves. For this reason, I claim the sleeve system, as laid down in this work, is far superior to any other. To fit the shoulders and the sleeves together is really a question of how not to fit the body of a person, and still, produce a garment which will take the eye of the public. A tight-fitting shoulder at the arm, and a tight-fitting waist in the back, are not the present conception of fit, or of style, for men’s garments, and in all probability never will be.
The shoulders are based upon a slope of 22½ deg., not because they slope just that much, for they may be 22 or 23 deg., or anything near that, but that is a good average; and 22½ deg. is the fourth part of a square, and is an even division of a square, and a known quantity.
I will here say: Extra square shoulders are seldom found which cannot be fitted by Dia. [II], by simply cutting the spring between the shoulder seam ¼ less at the neck and placing the top of the back and the side of the neck say ¼ to ⅜ of a number lower, while the armhole remains as it is, including the sleeve. There is no question but that the lower, or the higher shoulders, can be fitted by making the change at the armhole, but in either case the whole armhole and the whole sleeve, as well as the waist, requires a re-adjustment. But I do not want to earn glory by giving a description of it.
