Blue Tweed Conversion

[Mickey]

Finished converting a nice blue tweed sportvcoat. I meant to get some "in-process" pics, but before I knew it, I was too far along. I'm pretty pleased with it. The pocket flaps are a little large because they were so low to begin with. They were welted, and smaller flaps still looked way too low. I made larger ones to lift them a bit. The bottom edges are right on the pocket openings. Completely sewed down as the pockets were so shallow they would have been useless anyway.




Many thanks go to my little helper, Hai, who insists on offering assistance whenever is most inconvenient as well as opinions.




And here is a close shot of the material. It almost but not quite picks up the color right. It is a bit bluer than it looks here with small red fibers in it. Very pretty material. I almost hated to cut it.



Now it is time to get back to work on a green suit jacket. Here is the start, with the sleeve length basted.



Here is a decent pic of the material. Beautiful wool with a lot of red and blue flecks. If this had been a sport coat instead of a suit jacket, I would have left it alone for work. Really hoping I don't muck this one up.



And here is my sleeve length model, inspecting the quality of my work. (She loves sleeves... always crawling down them as I sew).

[beloitpiper]

Looks good! Maybe you could put some darts in to bring the waist in a bit.

[sydnie7]

Nicely done, and a priceless photo of your helper.

Darts can be tricky, but nipping the waist in is a good idea. Kilt jackets tend to be more closely fitted than US suit jackets or sports coats. When you choose jackets for conversion, look for two rear side vents vs. one central rear vent. This gives you rear side seams that you can nip in for fitting vs. trying to introduce new, level, equal darts in the middle of a field of fabric.

But still nicely done!

[Mickey]

Thanks! Not only for the thoughts that I have enough knowledge to tailor a jacket, but especially for thinking that I have waist enough to bring the jacket in some! Maybe after a few more lost pounds I may be able to tighten it up a bit, depending on how brave I feel. As it is, I'm really pushing the limits with my meager sewing skills.

Neither of the jackets I've shown are vented at all. Double vents, which I really like, are especially hard to come by around here. But I've tightened up a few shirts here and there in the past so I think I might be able to suck it in on a couple of seams.

[CMcG]

Nice work, especially on the pockets. A pet peeve of mine about converted jackets is when people don't deal with the pockets and they just look too low. The adjustment of the flaps is one way to go but I have read that some converters favour the patch pocket because they can be moved while remaining functional.

[Mickey]

Nice work, especially on the pockets. A pet peeve of mine about converted jackets is when people don't deal with the pockets and they just look too low. The adjustment of the flaps is one way to go but I have read that some converters favour the patch pocket because they can be moved while remaining functional.

Thanks. I didn't move the pockets on my first one out of fear, and it doesn't look that great. I'll be able to fix that one after what I've learned/attempted on this one. The only real patch pocket jackets I've been able to find are things that I wouldn't wear in their prime, or their time. A lot of 70's era polyester lounge looking things.

I did get lucky and find one that I started on, but the pockets were put on with some sort of iron-on bonding strip that is proving to be a bear of a time removing without leaving glue or shine marks. Still slowly working on that one.

[English Bloke]

Great work. Can't sew a button meeself so hats off to you.