Fifteen Cent Jacket: The "No cut" Blazer Alteration/Tailor

My altered, tailored version! Cute, right?

FIFTEEN CENT JACKET: The “No Cut” Blazer Alteration/Tailor

This is the adorable dark floral blazer that I thrifted at St. Vincent DePaul's in Muskegon yesterday for fifteen cents! I loved the pattern. It was one of those vintage blazers made from very light synthetic material, and though it fit me "in general" (imagine me using air quotes) it didn't come to me in the cute, shape flattering way that you see it above! BUT...that is why I'm sharing my 40 minute transformation with you. And let it be known that I am NOT a perfectionist nor a master when it comes to sewing...though I am clever, and I look good sitting at my machine. (Haha!)

What you'll need: a jacket and a sewing machine. Maybe some buttons! You could even hand sew this project; but I'm too lazy for that. 

Once upon a time...

The blazer looked like this: (Kind of droopy, oversized, hanging straight on the sides and the back. I thought, "Maybe I can belt it?" But I knew it wouldn't flatter my figure much. Still, I liked the floral, and I thought, at fifteen cents, even if made a mistake...what would be the harm???)

I pinned everywhere that I planned on hemming first (I shortened the entire jacket, brought the shoulders in, AND brought the sides in a touch) and actually tried the garment on BEFORE I started sewing. Oh, aren't you PROUD of me? How utterly RESPONSIBLE!!! Honestly, the pinning was easy and quick. Painless...with the exception of one nasty finger poke. Dangit.

Once I had sewn the hem up the middle of the back and adjusted the shoulders, I actually flipped the garment inside out and drew on where my gathers would be in accordance to the "spine" seam going up the back. Those were the guides I followed when sewing it--didn't pin that part. 

I created this snazzy little picture so you could see exactly where I made alterations! After I had shortened the jacket, brought in the shoulders, and added gathers to the back (all without cutting) I brought the button location up a little higher and added two new matching buttons. On one side, I sewed an elastic loop on, so that the loop would wrap around the opposing button to close the jacket. Just a little minor "touch" but I like the re-design! 

And voila! What great results! This shorter, better fitting jacket not only hugs my curves much better, but it has some neat detail in the back and is SO much more flattering at a cropped length. This is the most satisfyingly simple and successful alteration I think I've ever done!!!

                     I love the way the gathers look. Very flattering!

Of course, if you had a lot of excess material after performing the inner hem and shortening of overall length, you could always trim it away...but my advice would be to find something that "generally" (there's those air quotes again) fits you, and play around! That's just what I did and hey--if you use a thrifted jacket, you can't really lose...


Have fun! Don't forget to stop by my Facebook page and let me know if you've tried this or if you have questions/comments! Happy Tuesday!