Custom fit your own blazer!

I'm very excited about this refashion or alteration or upcycle...whatever you think it is! I seriously have 4 jackets at home that I am going to do this to. I will say, with the jackets that are HUGE like men's jackets or whatever, I will have to do some even more major changes and tutorial. So, that is to come!

Supplies:

blazer that needs to be fitted

knit fabric

scissors

marking pen or chalk

flexible measuring tape

sewing machine

thread 

pins

Instructions:

1. Try on the jacket right side out and inside out and mark (I just mentally eyeballed it) how much you want to take in on the back seams and the side seams. I made sure to have the side seams curve in toward my natural waist, then back out for my hips. The back is the same, unless you want to shorten the back, then you can just take it in with out any curving. 

2. Seam rip the inside bottom stitch of the jacket that holds the lining and the jacket together to create a long opening that will expose the jacket's inside seams on the wrong side of the main fabric and wrong side of the lining fabric.

3. Pull the jacket inside itself so the wrong side of the jacket is exposed. Sometimes the jacket's lining is sewn into the main fabric's side seams, if this is the case then you may have a lot more seam ripping to do ( take all the seams out and resew them back to gather after adjustments have been made) or you can do it the easy way and just take it in from the inside with the lining and jackets together with out any seam ripping at all! It just won't look very pretty on the inside though. 

4. Sew a straight stitch down the back seam following your markings - you can make it a basting stitch (very long stitches) first so if you make mistakes or you don't like how it looks, it will be very easy to take out. Repeat with the side seams. Remember, if you want it to look less boxy and more fitted to your natural waist, then sew a curve - it will taper bigger starting beneath the armpit toward the natural waist, then taper smaller toward the hips or bottom of the jacket.

5. If you want to take in the shoulders - you may have to seam rip the lining from it. Make sure the shoulder seam is the only thing exposed so make sure the sleeve is flipped under as you sew or the sleeve is shoved back into the jacket. Then sew a curve from mid or bottom shoulder to the same place on the opposite side. This is one of my favorite tricks!

6. If you want to take in the sleeves - measure and sew how much you want to take in at the arms, then taper from armpit to the end of the sleeve. 

7. IRON all the new seams down as flat as you can get it, you can iron it on the inside and the outside.

8. If you want the blazer shorter, mark and iron the fabric and lining to the desired length. 

9. Sew the lining and the jacket back together at the bottom by hand stitching. For best results, add some fusible interfacing in the fold of the main jacket fabric.