A Refashion of Sorts

When I think of refashions I think of complicated changes made to a garment...not the sleeves being cut off and finished because that's all I did to update this outfit.  So let's start with the original...

I made this suit back in September 2007 after being inspired by a suit worn by Jackie Kennedy that I blogged about here and here. I've worn the two pieces together only a couple of times, because it was a little "fashion forward" looking for my job.

However, I've worn the pieces separately quite a bit. The jacket worked well with all black separates under it...black turtleneck with either black lined pants or a black straight skirt. The skirt has been worn with several different colored twinsets - white, black, red and a combination of black & white together. I especially love the back drape of this skirt and recently thought I need to make another one of these skirts.

Last week I went to put the jacket on and noticed that the sleeves are very tight. I'm sure it's a combination of dry cleaning and body changes but I don't want to lose all of the hard work that I put into this jacket so my solution was to remove the sleeves.

The alterations were simple. I just removed the sleeves, serged the edges, turned them under, pressed and top stitched them down. For a minute I did think about adding the binding that is on the jacket front to the armholes but I no longer have any of that black foldover binding left in the notions stash. And there just wasn't enough left from the sleeve hems to cover both armholes, so I went with the quick and simple solution.

I may even try wearing both pieces together as pictured below...

As I mentioned, this simple fix allowed me to prolong the life of a garment that I really loved and had put a lot of work into.  But I don't save every jacket...some have reached their lifespan in my closet and need to be donated.  I'm glad though that this one will live on...

...as always more later!