Self Alterations: to do, or not to do...

[Hand Tailored]

Heya folks,

It's been a while since I've posted here. I recently came into possession of a nifty used jacket... really cool, almost classic. It's got the elbow padding things and all. It was used, and my size

Only $8.00!!

Anyway, there is a couple things about it. To get the arms brought up ('cause my arms are too short

) will cost about $15-20... which is more than the jacket cost. So, I was wondering if anyone knew a way to do it themselves and would teach me?

Also, the front waist pockets on it are strange looking. They look like the front breast pocket on a standard button-up dress shirt... where they are on the outside rather than inside of the jacket. They also don't have those fancy little flap things on them either. So, is this normal? If not, would it be possible to remove the outside pockets and fashion them into the little flappy things and then sew them on so it looked like there were pockets there covered with flaps even though they would be fake? There is definitely enough fabric available to do that, just wondering how weird the other style is...

Wow... what a rant. Sorry... Anyway, thanks SO MUCH to anyone willing to help me with this!

HT*

* As you can see... I'm not much of a hand tailor

 

[HalfCanvas]

Sleeves are very time consuming to do, and very difficult to do right if you are a novice -- mainly because getting the lining right is very tough. Go ahead and experiment if you want, but you'll probably screw it up and it will take a couple hours for you to give up.

The pockets you are referring to are sometimes seen on a sportcoat -- they are called patch pockets. Leave them. Trying to fashion faux flap pockets might be impossible, but definitely would be stupid.

 

[trogdor]

I'd recommend this book: on amazon It's pretty good for showing you how to do this sort of thing -- I followed it quite successfully on a couple of thrift store jacket sleeve alterations. Time consuming, but no more than a couple of hours in front of the TV on a sunday night.

 

[j]

Sleeves aren't too bad, but they are definitely time consuming. I'm not going to go step-by-step on it, but the main hint I will give you for now is to only take apart one at a time so you can see how it goes back together. And also (apparently a lot of people don't know this) your iron is the most useful tool in terms of doing alterations. Pressing seams open and pressing allowances back before sewing them down, etc. will save you a ton of hassle. There's really no way to do it right without using an iron.

Oh yeah, and leave those patch pockets.

 

[Hand Tailored]

I alter my pants by myself, and yes, always use an iron... would be impossible to line things up without it.

As for that book... it looks cool, but I cannot imagine buying a $20 book just to avoid getting the $15 professional alterations on an $8 jacket...

But! I just might try to find it cheaper elsewhere!

As for those pockets, could I get an opinion on which pocket type you all think is better? I'm the kinda guy who would readily do a 5 hr sewing job just to get a 2% improvement

Thanks for the quick replies folks,
HT

 

[Jared]

Originally Posted by Hand Tailored

As for that book... it looks cool, but I cannot imagine buying a $20 book just to avoid getting the $15 professional alterations on an $8 jacket...

But! I just might try to find it cheaper elsewhere!

It's an investment.

But yeah, there's a good chance your local library will have some sewing books that include tailored sleeve building.

Originally Posted by Hand Tailored

As for those pockets, could I get an opinion on which pocket type you all think is better? I'm the kinda guy who would readily do a 5 hr sewing job just to get a 2% improvement

Patch pockets are completely classic, stylish, and fashionable on casual jackets - frankly, I'm kind of shocked you think they're anything unusual. Patch breast pockets, OTOH, are an abomination.

 

[j]

Personally I prefer jetted flapped hip pockets for the most part, but that would be a huge alteration even if you do have the material to do it (I'm not sure). We haven't seen the jacket, so I have no idea how weird yours look, but probably no one will notice but you.

If you wanted to make fake flapped pockets (which I guess... you could...) you'd basically just sew rectangles out of the pocket material and sew the tops on.

 

[a tailor]

Originally Posted by Hand Tailored

Heya folks,

It's been a while since I've posted here. I recently came into possession of a nifty used jacket... really cool, almost classic. It's got the elbow padding things and all. It was used, and my size

Only $8.00!!

Anyway, there is a couple things about it. To get the arms brought up ('cause my arms are too short

) will cost about $15-20... which is more than the jacket cost. So, I was wondering if anyone knew a way to do it themselves and would teach me?

Also, the front waist pockets on it are strange looking. They look like the front breast pocket on a standard button-up dress shirt... where they are on the outside rather than inside of the jacket. They also don't have those fancy little flap things on them either. So, is this normal? If not, would it be possible to remove the outside pockets and fashion them into the little flappy things and then sew them on so it looked like there were pockets there covered with flaps even though they would be fake? There is definitely enough fabric available to do that, just wondering how weird the other style is...

Wow... what a rant. Sorry... Anyway, thanks SO MUCH to anyone willing to help me with this!

HT*

* As you can see... I'm not much of a hand tailor

its not the 15-20 dollars,its the feeling of accomplishment. go for it.
your library will have books to help you. if not they may get them on loan for you from other librarys. brouse through the sleeve altering chapter select the ones that have the clearest text and diagrams. make copys of these.
hint-do one sleeve at atime so you have the finished one to refer to.
the only problem is to determin the amount to be shortened. ask a friend to help. one sleeve may be longer that the other.
once you master the sleeves,cuffing trousers is a snap.

 

[Hand Tailored]

I already hand blind stitch my pants... Are you saying that if I can do that, I can do sleeves!?!?!?

Yippee. off to the store tomorrow to get some super duper heavy-weight thread!


Thanks all!
HT