Why a Jacket's Front Hem Is Never Truly Level?
Written by Kenji Tanaka
— The Relationship Between Front Balance, Side Balance, and Body Posture —
Lay a tailored jacket flat on a table, and you may notice that the front hem appears slightly raised, or that the left and right sides do not seem perfectly level.
At first glance, it may look like a cutting or sewing error.
In most well-made jackets, however, it is neither.
A tailored jacket is designed to look correct when worn, not when laid flat. As a result, the hem is not always perfectly level on a table.
The Human Body Is Not Flat
The human body has depth and asymmetry. The chest projects forward, the back has natural curvature, and posture varies from person to person.
Some people have an erect posture, while others are stooped. Forward shoulders, uneven shoulders, and a tilted pelvis are also common.
If a jacket were drafted with a perfectly level hem in two dimensions, it would often appear uneven once worn on a three-dimensional body.
In tailoring, the objective is not to create a perfectly level pattern, but to create a jacket that appears level on the wearer.
What Is Front Balance?
One of the key concepts in tailoring is Front Balance—the relationship between the length of the front and back sections of the jacket.
For someone with a prominent chest or an erect posture, more of the front length is consumed as the fabric travels over the body. Without sufficient front length, the front hem will ride upward when the jacket is worn.
Conversely, a stooped posture requires relatively more length across the back.
Front Balance is therefore not simply about jacket length. It is about distributing length according to the wearer's three-dimensional shape.
What Is Side Balance?
Another important concept is Side Balance, which refers to the balance of the garment when viewed from the side, as well as the relationship between the left and right sides.
Uneven shoulders, forward shoulders, pelvic tilt, or other postural differences can all affect how the hem appears when the jacket is worn.
To achieve a visually level hem, an experienced pattern cutter may intentionally introduce subtle adjustments into the pattern. As a result, a well-made pattern is not always perfectly symmetrical.
A Flat Pattern and a Balanced Jacket Are Not the Same Thing
A tailored jacket is designed around a moving, three-dimensional body—not a flat table.
For this reason, a jacket that appears slightly uneven when laid flat may look perfectly balanced once it is worn. The same principle applies to sleeve pitch, shoulder angle, and many other aspects of tailoring.
Ready-to-wear garments are drafted around an average body shape. Bespoke and high-quality made-to-measure garments, however, allow the pattern to be refined by adjusting Front Balance and Side Balance to suit the individual wearer.
The objective is not to make the hem perfectly level on the cutting table.
The objective is to make it appear naturally balanced on the person wearing it.