3 Suits and another man jacket

As promised, I have 3 suits for you given to a daughter by her mother. All are from Carlisle and are wonderful to work on as the fabrics don’t mind being taken in or let out and never show a line.

You saw the blue cuffs I was removing back in this post so now here is the finished jacket. I used the cuffs to make a false facing on the sleeve hems. Strips were chalked and measured and it was nice that they had been interfaced so they could add some stability to the very thin wool sleeves. Here is what I had to work with once the cuffs were gone. The new facings are ready to go.  

In place and understitched ready to be trimmed level.The lining was attached by hand.

The other 2 wool suits that were altered to be more modern are here:

The skirt had many triangular panels so they were narrowed to control the flare of the hem. To shorten this skirt a few leather flowers and leaves had to be removed too. The cuffs were flipped up and attached with tiny French tacks.

  Here are all the parts that were removed from the jacket. Epaulets and loops, pocket flaps and sleeve bands trimmed with grosgrain ribbon on wool…whew…the works! And the jacket looks like this now along with the skirt also altered and hemmed shorter.

  

Despite looking a little plain both of these components will look good with solid black or dark brown tops and bottoms instead of the matchy matchy original.

Before I leave you for a pile of projects that came in yesterday I want to share another “favorite” man’s jacket…this time from Australia. The bonus was it was only a small job of repairing the underarm seam and the lining…have a gander!

Yes, dear readers…that is a map of the country of origin…how cool is that? Waxed cotton on the outside and artwork on the inside!

Next time…more bad sewing from other seamstresses and tips to make your work more professional.

Keeping my fingers crossed for Spring to come to the Pacific Northwest!