Vintage Jacket Alteration.

Sometimes one gets carried away with a good idea, not realizing where it’ll eventually lead you.

Last year, as the business geared itself towards alterations, I decided to use some otherwise pretty useless clothes as both practice and demonstration. I can definitely say that through a combination of HUNDREDS of alteration jobs for clients, and these practice pieces, I’ve come to know more of the limits of clothes than ever before.

We started out with a pair of trousers, and then tackled a shirt, but I was hungry for a real challenge!!

The first thing I learned from doing these alterations is that yes, there is a limit to what can be achieved. Although Jedi skills can make the most insane of alterations feasible, the damage to the structural integrity of the garment isn’t always worth it.

This jacket was so over-sized for Antonio that it required entirely re-working the side back seams, bringing them dangerously close to the pocket slit.

The second, and possible more important, thing I learned is that I need to carve out more time for these kinds of projects within the work week.

Unless I experiment like this I won’t know where the limits are (for example I don’t think I’ll ever alter the front darts of a jacket again). Yet this alteration took me, I exaggerate not, an entire year :'(

In the last few weeks of business for 2017 I honestly just threw the bloody thing back together and called it a day, refusing to carry an alteration over two years! Ultimately the sleeves could have done with a bit more work, and I should have re-made the shoulder pads.

Despite all that I can’t say I’m not proud of taking this jacket from what it was to what it is!

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