Release the Hounds(tooth)!

I recently set out with a few new goals for myself. The first one was to start dressing better, and that meant owning (and getting comfortable with wearing) a suit. I figured that this goal would help me in my ongoing quest to get a real job. Then I realized that I am too poor to afford a closet full of nice suits. So I bought two okay ones from the store and set out to thrift the rest. Last Thursday I found this gem hidden in a back corner:

The fit across the shoulders was perfect. The sleeves were the correct length, right off the rack. Perhaps my doppelganger bought this suit 40 years ago, had it tailored, and then placed it there for me to find. Who knows. One thing I do know, however, is that those massive lapels are a serious show stopper. If I was ever going to wear this jacket, they were going to have to go.

Yep, that is 14 cm wide at the top. Most jackets these-days seem to hover around the 10 cm mark, but Ralph Lauren wanted to make sure everyone got an eye full of this sweet, sweet, houndstooth. Allow me to also draw your attention to the mismatched body-buttons and the odd spacing on the sleeve buttons:

So lets get down to business. I had previously played with another jacket and pioneered a method of lapel reduction that did not involve taking the entire jacket apart. I decided to give it another go here. The first step is to use a seam ripper to cut the lapel open. (When you get to the boutonnière hole, you will have to cut the buttonhole stitching as well. I used my seam ripper and ripped from between the two lapel layers.)

After you rip the lapel open along the full length you intend to modify (plus a little extra for wiggle room), disconnect the collar from the lapel about along about 3/4 of the lapel (basically, separate the collar from the lapel where they meet in the notch).

Next up, Press everything flat so that you aren't fighting the old lapel. Then it's decision time: what size lapel do you want to have? For my project I decided that the pattern at-hand lended plenty of weight to the equation, so a smaller lapel would be better. However, I also didn't want an anemic skinny little thing that seemed out of touch with the rest of the suit.

I figured that 9 cm wide was a good choice. A little narrower than most of what I own, but still balanced. Pick what you are comfortable with, and fold the rest inside the lapel. Press the whole thing to give it a crisp edge and see how it looks.

If it looks good, repeat the process for the backside lapel. The importing thing here is to keep things even and identical. Don't feel bad if you have to reshape it several times, lord know I did. In the end you should get two correct sized lapels which are waaay to thick (due to all the folded-in material). Ignore the collar and the notch at this point, we will get to them next.

After playing around a little with this, I found that the real key is to hand baste the lapels in their new position. I tried pinning, but it just wasn't enough. Spend an extra minute here and tack the new lapels roughly 1/8" from the edge. This prevents them from changing shapes when you are sewing them together. You will save time in the long run, when you don't have to take the project apart 100 times (I learned this the hard way).

Once you have the two pieces in place and are satisfied with the way things look, trim the excess material out that you folded in. At the corners you may have to trim a little closer to allow the lapel to fold correctly. Just keep your material in mind, if it frays you'll be up a creek.

Now top-stitch the lapel faces together as close to the edge as you can. I think I usually sew mine around 1/8" (the space from my machine's needle to the edge of the foot). Now it's time to address that notch and collar.

Measure in as far as you'd like the notch to extend. I usually pick something close to 1/2 my total lapel width, in this case I picked 5 cm. Roll the back lapel material inside and top-stitch the lapel shut. Slip-stitch the collar back onto the lapel. This should give you a finished lapel and an oddly proportioned collar that is not-yet notched.

If you fold the collar back, you will start to see your notch forming, but you will also see how disproportionate it all looks. This is because the collar needs to narrow a bit as it approaches the notch. Trace back a little and find a good point to roll the collar-edge back to. The houndstooth pattern made this super easy:

 Roll that edge under, press the notch and new collar shape, and then top-stitch the notch-edge. I found that, when working with the notches, it is easiest to mock the lapel/notch/collar assembly up in paper or cardboard first. That way you have a solid pattern to reference back to and it ensures that you will have symmetrical lapels and notches. Once that is done, you should have one finished half:

 Repeat the above steps on the opposite side. Don't worry about attaching the collar back-matting at this point. Be sure to keep your measurements identical! Once both sides match, and are finished, trim the matting for the collar backing and stitch it in place. I do this by hand rather than top-stitching because it it not load bearing and it gives me a chance to cover up any small defects along the collar.

And that's it. You have finished reshaping your out-dated lapels. Press them with lots of steam (remember your pressing cloth!) and they should hold that new shape just fine. Strike a pose, pull out your iPhone, and update your myfacebooktube status. Here is my before and after shot:

So what do you think? Is this the worst possible approach I could take to lapel resizing? Would this have been much easier if I wasn't using an old zig-zag machine that cost me $25? Do I just have horrible tastes in jackets? Send me some love in the comments below. I'd love to see your finished projects and revisions to this process.