Custom tailor a blazer - in detail

After spotting this jacket at DI, I knew that someone had to own it. So, I rushed me friend Meta on over there and she snatched it up! Isn't it the most amazing jacket ever!? This is one of my favorite colors right now, and it looks beautiful on meta with her blonde hair and pretty green eyes (and not to mention those blue pants). She looks FABULOUS! You are going to see a lot more of her, with all the sewing and thrift shopping I get accomplished with her around. Love her! 

Supplies:
Blazer
Sewing machine
Matching thread
Scissors
Iron
Pins
Chalk or fabric pen
Seam ripper
Optional - straight ruler

Instructions:

 

1. 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 when turned pulled through and turned inside out. 
2. Take out the shoulder pads here too, if you don't like them or you're planing on taking the shoulders in.

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. Iron the jacket's seams allowances at the seams together, so it will flatter and easier to sew. You can add pins here to make sure it is extra straight when you sew, this is especially important with jackets that have a pattern that it's pattern needs line up perfectly.

5. Turn the jacket right side out again and mark with some pins how much is needed to be taken in, do this by pinching the excess at the seams and adding a pin. You don't pin it together,just make it a marking when it is turned inside out. Turn jacket inside out and with chalk or fabric pen, mark where the pins were placed, remove the pins. The marks are only needed to be on one side of the seam, preferably the right. repeat with all the seams. I usually take in all the seams equally.
6. Sew a straight line stitch down the seams 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. If you want it to look less boxy and more fitted to your natural waist, then sew a curve - it will taper starting from beneath the armpit going bigger toward the natural waist, then taper smaller again toward the hips or bottom of the jacket. If you want to keep it boxy, then just sew straight lines, making sure to taper at the top. You can mark with a ruler to help you taper if you like.
7. Repeat with the lining. But you don't have to be as precise.

8. If you want to take in the sleeves - measure, pin and sew how much you want to take in at the arms, then taper from armpit to the end of the sleeve. We used a ruler.

9. If you want to take in the armpit area a little, then seam rip the armpit open a few inches at where the seams meet. Then take in the seams at arm and the side seams, make sure the are taken in the exact amount. Then sew the armpit back up.

10. If you want to take in the shoulders which we didn't with this jacket, make sure the sleeve is flipped inside the jacket so the sleeve and the jacket are touching right sides together. Then sew a curve from mid or bottom of the shoulder up and over to the same place on the opposite side. This is one of my favorite tricks! (Go here for that image)

11. Cut out the excess material, and IRON all the new seams open and down as flat as you can get it. For the best results, seam rip the old seams out and iron both inside and outside of the jacket.

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

13. Last 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. 

The last 2 photos is the before the cutting and ironing, after the seams have been taken in. See how easy it is!? So simple with such great result!