I'm thrilled to say that I've begun work on my muslin in earnest, getting all of the pieces cut out. A couple of nights ago, I had a revelation that I thought I'd share with you all. To some of you this will definitely be a "Well duh" sort of thing, but it took me a while to figure it out on my own, and there aren't a lot of resources out there for altering a pattern.
The jacket I made my pattern from is about 2 inches too narrow in the torso, I was originally planning to add these inches to the side panels, but I was worried about how this would translate to the shape and size of the arm hole. Then, like a bolt from the blue, is this. Triangles. I can add the two inches necessary in the back piece at shoulder level, but taper it down so that I don't spread my double vent to ridiculous proportions. The rest I'll add to the side seams, but in the opposite direction, the full two inches at the bottom, tapering up to a point that avoids the arm hole completely. It will most certainly take a couple of tried to get it right, but that's what muslins are for, right?!
Today I thought I'd share with you some experience I've had recently with altering existing jackets. Specifically taking out the sleeves. I have done this to two separate thrift store gems in the last month or so in order for them to cover both my arms AND my wrists (the joys of being 6' 2" with a 42" chest).
Keep in mind, this is not following any "proper" technique, but is rather me throwing it together that is good enough to be wearable, but that I won't be getting heavy use out of.
I found this jacket (a full suit and pants actually) at a church rummage sale in town. It fit me relatively well in the chest could use a bit of slimming through the middle, but it was close enough. The sleeves were about 1"-1 1/4" too short, but it was in the last two hours of the sale and they were having a bag sale on all remaining clothing. Everything that fit in a bag for $2, who could pass that up?!
I brought it home and went to work. It should be noted that most jacket sleeves have a hem allowance right around 1 1/2" to 2", so if you find a jacket that needs a full 2" extra, or near that, you probably won't have any extra fabric to fold over for a hem, and even if you do, it will be easily visible because the hem is so short.
First thing to do is get out your seam ripper and separate the lining from the end of the hem inside the sleeve. Then rip any seams/ stitches holding the hem down and the seam at the ends of the overlap where the buttons meet.
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| Seams ripped and ready for pressing. See where the old seam is in relation to the button? The one you can just see is the last of four. |
With my jacket, in order to rip out the seams under the button overlap that held down the hem, I had to cut off the end of four buttons as it had been sewn through all layers of fabric and the lining (not sure if this was sloppy tailoring as it seems professionally made, or if the buttons were switched out/reattached at some point). Press out all old creased leaving yourself with something that looks like this.
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| The missing button was on the right of these three |
The reason you want to open down the side seam where the buttons overlap a bit is that certain styles of jackets have a small amount of flare at the end of the sleeve and you want to be able to follow the line of the curve as necessary when you lengthen it to get a nice straight seam.
Next step is to pin your fabric , I did this near the seam, but not right on top of it, you will be hand sewing the extra seam length underneath where the side seams of the two arm pieces meet, not through from the top to the bottom, the part you see is actually a folded hem that gives a much cleaner look that visible stitches would
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| I drew over my pins in red so that they would show against the gray weave of the fabric, the circles are the ends of the pins, but you aren't sewing with your machine so the direction of the pins doesn't matter. |
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| Here's the view from the inside, you can see a bit of bunching that I hadn't yet fixed before actually sewing. |
That top seam in the above picture is the one you'll be sewing a long, then you can press the fold (the one next to your pins) after you're done adjusting the length. I simply sewed my seam with a quick backstitch. This doesn't have to be extremely strong as it most likely won't receive a lot of strain or wear and tear unless the jacket is worn daily and taken off/on multiple times a day.
To find your correct length, you have to put the jacket on and fit it to your wrist. The proper sleeve length of a jacket is supposed to hang where your thumb meets your wrist, but I find this is just a bit too high, esp with my long arms, it feels like any arm movement above my waist is pulling the sleeve up to my elbow. I added about a half an inch to that Then mark where your hem will go with your marking product of choice. I had a gray crayola washable marker that was barely visible and the mark will be directly on the hem's curve so I'm not worried about anyone seeing it/having to wash it out.
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| You can see the mark about half an inch up from the seam and about 3/4 of an inch in from the end of the fabric, it is going up and down in the picture. |
I've found the best place to start your hem is right on the seam where the front and back sleeve pieces meet. This ensures that the seam lines up and that you aren't going to end up with a slanted or angled hem on your finished alteration.
I folded so that my mark was directly on the fold of my new hem (if your marking tool leaves a darker/more noticeable line try marking about 1/8 of an inch lower than you want your hem and fold your mark just under the hem onto the inside in case it doesn't wash/rug off completely).
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| Here is the outside seam matching up with the inside seam. Also this closeup shot gives a great view of all of the colors that are incorporated into this particular weave, blue, brown, and white makes for an overall gray look! |
I then add a single stitch to hold the hem in place and provide stability, this isn't necessary if you are familiar with your fabric and comfortable with your pressing skills. I like to do it here especially because you can just quickly stitch the ditch in the seam that you just lined up and it is completely invisible.
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| here is my gray thread coming up out of the seam for my stabilizing stitch. |
Now simply fold over the rest of your hem until you have a straight line across. Note: Your fabric's grain will most likely NOT fall along this line, don't let that be your guide! I like to take the hem that I just stitched between one set of thumb and forefinger, and the exact opposite side in the other hand, then roll the unstitched (button seam side ) between my fingers until it lays flat on both the top and the bottom when pulled just slightly taut (not stretched). I wish I had a picture of this, but two hands are needed and I don't have a tripod yet, sorry.
To be sure, always pin your seam, I like to do one pin on each side of the button overlap, then put the jacket on, see how it hangs, try moving your arms a bit in it (mimic the motions of cutting food and eating it, or a dancing pose, whatever you will be doing in the jacket) to make sure it is the length you want and that the hem isn't angled/crooked.
Funny story, I play upright string bass and my High School orchestra's concert dress for the guys was a tuxedo. My mom took me to Penny's (now JCP) to get a rtw tux my freshman year (shudder). It looked great in the store so we bought it. When I got on stage for the concert, my arm went up to play the notes ans the jacket sleeve was halfway to my elbow! For those of you who haven't seen someone play the string bass, here's how the instrument looks while I'm standing next to it at its proper height for playing.
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| This was me about five years ago and plus about fifty pounds! |
Notice how the black part under the strings goes all the way up to the height of my forehead? Also notice how my sleeve, even with my hand only at shoulder height, is already back down my wrist about 3-4 inches? This was from my freshman year of college and it was a newer tux than my first one, but still just an off the rack Penny's buy (I was young and didn't know any better, plus they go on sale for the whole tux for $99). If I get myself involved in playing bass again here in Grand Forks (I hope to soon) I may have to look into what some of the professionals do. Do they tailor their jackets longer in the sleeve, or do they actually have that left sleeve longer than the right and only use it for performances?
Anyways, back to the sleeves on hand...I mean on wrist. Here's my finished (nearly) sleeves on me. Ignore how the jacket's bottom hem should technically be 1 1/2" to 2" lower, it's much less noticeable with the matching suit pants and perhaps a project for another day.
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| From the front (excuse my junky, thrown together workspace in the back) |
Finally to reattach that button. Since I was adding length, I didn't want my buttons to begin a full four inches away from the hem. I had already removed the lowest button while ripping the seams, I sewed it back on, then took the highest of the four buttons and transplanted it (I'm using that term to make it sound more fancy and important) to the bottom of the row.
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| The right side with buttons reattached and moved around. |
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| The left side before I had reattached the bottom button or move the top button to the bottom of the row, see what I mean about the buttons starting four inches up? |
That's it folks. I didn't have enough lining to reach to my new hem, but the lining inside the sleeve was all ripped and torn in places anyways so I may replace that eventually also just to get some experience working with lining.
"Make do and mend." - Anon.
Matthew
Update: I forgot to add this picture of my hot date, Mrs. Suzie Q. Hanson, and I at the Mason's dinner last night, that's what I was altering this jacket for.
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| Aren't we just the cutest! |
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