Corduroy Jacket Conversion Notes and Links

[Bugbear]

* Pictures Removed. *


Notes:


The jacket and especially the waistcoat were a bit tight around the waist , but fit well at the chest and shoulders before the conversion. Also, the waistcoat was too small to button the bottom three buttons, so was left out of the before pictures. The buttons were a little higher and the lapel a bit shorter than on any of my other jackets, so the bottom button was kept to avoid putting a curve through the buttonhole.

A 4.5 inch (11.4cm) radius or nine inch (22.9cm) diameter circle was used to generate the template of the curved edge in the front. I picked this size circle and approach to making the shape of the curve and taper after rummaging through all my curve templates but not finding a complete curve and taper together that fit well. A large plastic disk seemed to make a useable curve when placed on the jacket, however, and the measurements for the circle came from that. The final template was a small segment of a cardboard circle cut with a bar style compass that has a cutting wheel on the end. This approach was also generally inspired by cavscout's post at this link in Deil the Yin's thread "Opinions: Jacket Remod...?."

I had no bias binding, so used a square patch of material pinned right side to right side over the curved area, then turned wrong-side-in after stitching along the edge of the curved template. The square patch of material came from the part of the jacket that was removed with the raising of the hem line. This was a bit like the way the original curved bottom of the jacket was constructed.

To sew in the curve, I used very close back stitching, then used a couple of very small stitches to tack it's corner down after it was turned. Also, the materiel below the curve had to be trimmed back close to the curve before turning it.
* I was waiting to put the original interfacing back in the new hems until after I posted pictures to find out if the curves of the sporran cutaway were acceptable. I went ahead and put the interfacing back in and it resolved several issues with the hang and shape of the tapered hems passed the curve area. It made quite a bit of a difference, and I realized how important the thin soft strip of interfacing had been to the original hem structure. *

Rather than chalk, I used origami jacket folding techniques to find and mark the hem line at the fell length and the angled or tapered hem line of the sporran cutaway, as well as, used the seams of the jacket for reference lines to assure symmetry (within reason).

To find the tapered, front hem line, I folded the front, bottom of the jacket at a point 1.5 inches (3.2cm) from the front side seam upward toward the bottom buttonhole in such a way that the fold came as close to the sporran as possible without touching it while the jacket was buttoned. After that line was found and pinned up, the circle was placed on the jacket with one tangent located just below the buttonhole on the front edge of the opening of the jacket. That located the tangent point on the taper line, and both tangent points were marked with stick pins. Also, the tangent points on the cardboard circle were marked and the curve templet was then trimmed down to a small piece that was easy to tape and pin onto the jacket. Everything that was done on one side of the jacket had to be done in mirror symmetry on the other side.

I'm still working out a method to use for making visible hems, so used lots of invisible (very small blind hem) stitches. Also, all cotton quilting thread was used because it happened to be the only non-mixed thread matching the jacket material that I could find. The hems were tacked in place with fairly large herringbone stitches.

I made a good deal of internal (non-showing) stitches, as well as tacking and basting stitches with the thread I had on hand before I was able to get help with matching thread colors. Guess I just needed to get started whether I had the right thread or not...


List of the changes I made to the jacket and waistcoat:

Removed patch pockets,
Raised hem line to correspond to the fell length of the kilt,
Made angled hem lines for sporran cutaway,
Created and stitched in curves for sporran cutaway,
Closed back, center vent,
Opened side vents (four inches long) at back side seams,
Reinforced seams at top of side vents,
Made and attached panels to seams of the side vents,
Attached lining to the back at hem,
Lined vent flaps and tacked upper corner to inside of back,
Cut and hemmed patch pockets back to half their height,
Attached pocket patches to jacket after finding comfortable pocket placement using origami jacket folding techniques,
Attached front lining at hem,
Shortened sleeve at cuffs and reattached their buttons,
Raised hem line on the waistcoat and made the waist wider from the center seam in the back.
* Later, put original interfacing back in new hems. *

These are the X Marks the Scot links and threads I used in the sport jacket to kilt jacket conversion.

This is a link to the thread from where the idea to use a corduroy jacket and waistcoat came,

"Black Cororoy jacket conversion" by James MacMillan
and the post from that thread where it all came together as an idea.

Thank you to MacMillan of Rathdown and James MacMillan.


Alan H's web site for kilt jacket conversions

The F-H.C.A.G.'s "Converting a tweed sport coat to a Braemar jacket"

Farlander's thread, Converting a tweed sport coat to a Crail jacket"

David Dalglish's thread "Jacket conversation explained"

David Dalglish's thread on the curved front "Jacket Conversion-(Bias Binding for curve)"

This thread was helpful in understanding how to make the curve for the cutaway as the need for a different shape of curved is discussed.

Deil the Yin's thread "Opinions: Jacket Remod...?"


Freedom Kilts sport cut kilt jackets:

These threads are not for DIY, but helped a great deal in understanding kilt jackets and the look I wanted.

The long awaited Kilt Jacket

Introducing - The Tweed Kilt Cut Sport Coat

Bridging the gap between ultra-casual and ultra-formal

The best kinds of threads for sewing were covered in these threads and helped a bit.

kfreeouf's thread "Thread, thread"

Barb T.'s "Results of test of new Dual Duty XP thread"

In addition, I used information from web searches and other sources on the general construction of sport and suit jackets, the handling of fabrics, hand sewing techniques, and clothing alterations. Notes, links, and descriptions of the minor changes I made to the kilt are posted in my thread "Stabilizer for a StillWater"

History of the Jacket and a Few Small Details:

This jacket and waistcoat were part of a suit tailored for my step father in the late seventies when he lived in South Korea. His father was a Colonel in the Air Force and stationed there. The jacket has a floating canvas interfacing in the front and is fully lined. The corduroy is one-hundred percent cotton and the jacket including interfacing is washable, though only with special care. All the buttons are original, though not fancy, and there are a total of seven pockets, two that I added, on the jacket with three on the waistcoat. It has held up well over it's thirty plus years of use, and this has put it back into good service.

[Mael Coluim]

An OUTSTANDING job, Ted! And a BIG thank you for the excellent resources you have documented for us. Now, if this scissor weanie could just find the courage to cut one of his jackets!

[Bugbear]

Thank you, Mael Coluim. The links you need should all be there. There are also plenty of pictures which should be very helpful.

[Southern Breeze]

Great job!

[ChattanCat]

Hey, looks great!

[Bugbear]

Thank you.

[Packhound]

Ted,
It's great to see pictures of your jacket. I found that just making that first cut across the bottom was all it took. Once that was done, the rest was just making things work. For those of you who are still reluctant to try this, JUST DO IT. This is much easier than making a kilt.

Again Ted, Great Job!!!

[Bugbear]

Thank you, Packhound.

[Bugbear]

I don't know that anyone should follow what I did to convert mine. Many people are using sewing machines and chalk lines which I am not able to use. I do, however, suggest reading up on how suit and sport jackets are constructed before converting a jacket. There is plenty of information on the web about the internal structure and interfacing of jackets. This will help guide you through choosing an approach, and help you to avoid a few temptations.

[Kerr the Walker]

First off: Great looking jacket Ted! Very well done.

Second: Heartily agree with Ted about reading up on jacket construction before starting. I didn't, and it took me twice as long to recover from mistakes that I would not have made if I knew what I was getting into. Also, use a flat surface to work on. I did mine on my lap in a small government-rate hotel room and...well....my lap bunched things up several times, making the jacket look rather ridiculous. Flat table would have solved that all together.