Blazers

While I made my Halloween Prom Dress, I also fixed up a few blazer jackets that I bought at a thrift store.  Two of them were just hemming the sleeves, but one I modernized.  So, here are the three:

The Navy Suit Jacket

The Brown Linen Blazer

The Khaki Green Blazer

I will save the Navy one for last, because I worked the most on that one and will start with the Brown one.  All I did with the brown one was hem the sleeve about 1".  

Just Cut, Press & Sew

I was also thinking of making a cinch in the back to form fit it a bit, but I thought that it may look sloppy.  I just left it as is.

One Down...Two to Go

For my second blazer, I also only hemmed the sleeve length.  This one had buttons on it so I copied the button look.

Original Sleeve

I unstitched the buttons and measured where to cut and resew.

Markings with Chalk

I then marked with chalk where I was going to stitch to match what I just cut off.  I also made dots so I would know where to reattach the buttons.

Two Down...One to Go

Now the last one.  This looks like it was a suit jacket that once had matching pants from the 80's or something.  It was wool with a liner.  

Some great points:

• Premium tailoring
• Awesome vintage button 
• Cropped (hit at the low waist, rather than hip)
• Sleeves length fit

Some not so great points:

• Shoulder pads (It was like a box on me)
• Lapels that were unfolded and a bit claustrophobic
• Liner was totally unstitched at the bottom hem

So, there are more pros than cons, so when I tried it on at the store, I decided to take a chance.

My first item of business were the shoulder pads.  If I can't get those right, then I wasn't going to work on the rest of it.  I unstitched the inside liner at the arm holes and this is what I saw in there:

Ick!  I don't even have words for this...

So, I cut the shoulder stuffing out and promptly threw it in the trash, never to look at it again.  For some reason, that grossed me out.  It was like looking at a couch cushion foam under the upholstery.  My advice:  Do Not Ever Look At Couch Cushion Foam (or the padding under rugs).  Enough said.

I then had to fit the shoulder seams.  Once the padding was out, they were deflated boxy shoulders - not a good thing.  This was a bit trial and error.  I pinned as best I could, crossed my fingers and sewed a new seam (meaning I didn't unstitch the old seam, just sewed in about an inch).

Shoulder Seaming

I then cut off the excess, once I was happy with the fit.  I had to try it on and tweak the seams a few times, but did finally get it good enough.

Next was the liner.  It was all unstitched.  With the liners to these sort of pieces, it must be done all by hand.  Good 'ole fashion needle and thread using the slip stitch.  

Ugh, Unstitched Little Devil!

Once my DVR'd episode of Danicing with the Stars was done, so was I with the handstitching.  Phew.  Go Ricki Lake!!  Who knew she was so good?

Next and last were the lapels.  I wanted to keep the vintage feel of this jacket and was thinking Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's: Elegant.  I went to Joann's and bought a button card with a white rhinestone in a black plastic bezel with a shank buttons.  The existing closure button also was a black shank button.

I folded down the lapels as you would normally see them and pinned in place.  I chalked my dots to affix my new rhinestone buttons to.

'Ole Navy is Getting a Make-Over

I then handstitched the buttons onto where the dots were.  This is how the lapels will stay folded.  Since the jacket is wool, there really is no other way than stitching them down to keep them in place.  Now that the buttons are in place, it looks like the lapels are buttoned down.

Fabulous, or What?

Here is a closer look at the lapels and shoulder shaping:

I Love It!

The Navy one took the longest, but the three in total cost me about $3 each and about an afternoon of sewing.  Not too shabby.  

Now that it is getting a bit cooler here (Florida), I am looking forward to wearing them.  If you have a bit of sewing talent, you really can fix up anything.  You just need your imagination and some thread.  Oh, scissors help too.

Happy Thrifting!

Where Does the Time Go??

Well, I just have to say that I did not have time to blog today!  This is the first week (minus the vacation weeks) that I did not blog.  I can say that I did A LOT and that is why I don't really have time to properly put it all down in a nice, pretty post.

The things I did work on were fixing a co-workers daughter's costume (during the week), another yard sale on Saturday (at my friend's community) and hemmed a pair of lounge pants.  I also worked on some thrift blazers (sleeves too long, and one, just a bit out of date), a co-worker's blazer that had a hole in it, and last of all...my Halloween Costume.

The blazers and the Halloween Costume will be in a post, most definitely.  I love the way one blazer came out and my Halloween Costume is in theme with a Halloween party Vince and I are attending which is called "The 2011 Bates Senior Prom".  Yes, we will be going as prom teenagers.  So, I will leave you wondering what we do.

I will show you some of my past Halloween Costumes...

2010: Velma Dinkley with Vince as Foo Man Chu

2009: Cowgirl with Vince as a Pimp

2008: Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golighley from Breakfast at Tiffany's

2007: A Goth Wednesday Addams

Ah, Memory Lane.  I have worn wigs, fake eyelashes, heavy make-up, full length gloves, girdles and even magnetic nose and lip rings.  What I will do in the name of Halloween. :-)

I hope you enjoyed laughing at my past costumes.  See you next week!

Necklace Revamp

For my first project, I have this necklace that my friend CLL gave me a few years back as a token to symbolize 'Freedom' and I love it. It is a silver dove pendant with rhinestone eyes. The clasp has a key, lock, and Fossil brand tag on it that hang like charms. Well, the chain has seen better days and the way it wears, the clasp with the charms ends up in the front next to the dove pendant and I don't bother fixing it to the back because it looks cute in the front. In addition to the charms in the front, the chain has developed a kink and a few tarnish spots that no longer go away with silver cleaner.  When I noticed that kink, it was the last straw.  It also has these nubs throughout the chain that drive me crazy.

Dove Pendant - Before

I took the lobster claw clasp that you see on the left side off and the large jumprings with charms on the right side off. The chain that has the nubs is going buh-bye and I will replace it with a plain chain that I had. I threaded the dove onto the new chain. I took one set of large jumpring and small links off the charms part so I could use them to hold the lobster claw on one side, threaded the left-over charms section onto the new chain next to the dove and then added another jumpring to the chain to make-up the other side/end.  Ok, blah, blah, I know....

Almost there....

The tools I am using to manipulate the jumprings are from this mini-sized set of pliers. It was a bargin for the set but they are a pain to use.  Cheaper ain't always better, ladies. It took me awhile to get the jumprings onto the tiny links of the new chain. You can sort of see the kink in the old chain in the pic above.

Viola! The revamp is complete and in my mind a success!

Dangle-tastic!

Now, I can keep the dove and finally jump on the skeleton key pendant banwagon.  I'm usually so far behind the banwagon that I cannot even run to catch it.  I love the Tiffany's key pendants, but since the cheapest one retails for over $125 (we are talking only silver, no diamonds), I will settle for my Fossil version!