So, a new year, a new Refashioners challenge…last year we did jeans, this time the thing to be updated is A SUIT.
Most disappointingly, I could find no one in my family or circle of friends to donate a suit to the cause. 😉  Well of course not…  let’s see; these things are a) expensive and b) made to last a lifetime.  It takes a lot for a man to give up his suit. And let’s not forget to mention the biggie; c) suits are usually beautifully tailored things and the very thought of giving one to somebody who is just going to take the scissors to it is a pretty big ask.  I know I wouldn’t give one up either!!
before…
So I went along to the the opshop and bought one. Â It was $22. Â Even then, I still felt pretty bad about chopping it up, and found myself mentally apologising to the unknown tailor the whole time. Â My suit is a Sax Altman: Sax Altman has been making high quality, traditionally tailored suits in Australia using fine Australian wool since 1977.
Just so you know, this is a pretty good innings by Australian standards… It’s actually pretty difficult to find suits in opshops here, men hang onto them forever. Â Lots of orphaned sports jackets and some suit pants, but not many matching sets. Â I initially honed in on this suit just because it wasn’t black! it is a deep charcoal-y/chocolate brown with subtle blue and grey pinstripes.
the fabric is pretty beautiful…
Once I got it home and had got a good look at it I could appreciate its quality; it’s beautifully made and let me tell you it was pretty darn hard to make that first snip… I’d decided already that I would make something that would honour the original tailoring, and keep as much of the important bits as I could, this one had it all; the interlined padded fronts with hand-padstitching, horsehair interlining, bias cut strips of organza everywhere on the inside to stabilise various areas, taped fronts, and tonnes of inner tape everywhere; sometimes bias cut organza, sometimes a sturdy cotton, sometimes strips cut from the selvedge… these were variously used as stay tape in different spots, hidden inside. Â It was all pretty heavily and exquisitely engineered and one thing’s for sure; I could never produce something like this myself!!
What I did:Â I wanted for the jacket to be quite close-fitted to my shape, so I opened up the lining at the lower back hem and took in the suit jacket through ALL the seams here… the centre back seam, the back princess seams and the side seams, at the same time, I took in the jacket lining through the seams inside too.. Â I didn’t touch the front darted seams because they ran into the front pockets and altering them would have ruined the integrity of the pockets. Â Oh, I’m pretty pleased that I managed to keep EVERY SINGLE POCKET of the original suit… I really didn’t want to sacrifice any, I thought if I absolutely had to I would… Â but I managed to keep them all. Â THE SANCTITY OF THE ALMIGHTY POCKET MUST BE UPHELD!!! Â (kidding)
I removed the sleeves and trimmed several inches off the shoulders, and cut off the lower half of the legs to use for new kimono sleeves, binding the lower armhole with bias-cut wool harvested from a sleeve.
The leg hemline had a really nicely turned up cuff, which I liked, and kept for the new sleeve hem. Â I love the new bracelet-length sleeves! if I did have to nit-pick, in an ideal world I think I would have preferred a wider sleeve but you know refashioning, sometimes you just gotta make it work with what you have!
I turned in and stitched a new front opening line for the jacket, making it a long, diagonal straight front coming to a point with a single button closure (above). Â I cut so as to remove the lower two buttonholes, keeping the original upper button hole and repositioning the upper button over a bit to give the front more of a “wrapped” kimono-inspired look.
That’s the jacket!!
The new skirt nearly drove me mad…. men and women are not built the same (duh); we women want width for our hips and hemline, and a narrow waistline… men’s clothes are made to be the total opposite. Â And also, the CUT! because of course the legs and the fly of men’s suit pants are cut differently against the grainline to how a skirt is cut, this makes it extremely difficult to transform them into a skirt! Â Fortunately the trousers were big enough I had a bit of extra width to play with here…. Â first of all, I took off the waistband and unpicked nearly everything except for the side seams where the side hip pockets were attached.
I removed the old zip which had gotten a little rickety over the years, and installed a new black dress zip. Â This entailed truing up the grain lines at centre front and creating a completely new fly and fly shield.
you can just see at the top; a strip of organza that was used to stabilise the waistline… I kept as much of these superb “hidden” structural details as I could, too
I wanted a flat-fronted look to the skirt, so made wide long darts at the front waistline to pull in the extra width there, these I topstitched down on the outside, continuing the topstitching down seamlessly to become stitched pin-tucks down the full length of the skirt front. Â This is exactly where the pressed line was for the trousers.
The skirt front is straight, but those back trouser legs are cut so as to curve IN, just where you don’t want them to when cutting a skirt, so I’d cut a triangular godet from the jacket sleeves, taking in the sleeve cuff buttons/buttonholes and the original sleeve hem.  I was a little disappointed that these were fake button-cuffs and can’t be opened… but they still look pretty nice you know, you can’t win ’em all  😉
I inserted the godets in the lower skirt side seams along with a long inverted pleat so the skirt back kicks out over the godet. Â I actually love this little detail.
I don’t even want to say how many pinnings and bastings it took me to get this silhouette that I wanted; a flatt-ish skirt front and a slightly flippy skirt back.  LOTS
Finishing up… shortened the waistband, reinstalled it stitched the belt tabs down again… oh and still managed to maintain that little coin pocket that sits right beneath the waistband… pretty proud of myself that I finagled that, hehe: and BAM! finally done!!  A fresh new womanly suit made from an old discarded men’s suit, albeit a rather nice one.  I’m very happy with the long-line jacket with slightly kimono-y vibes and a short, structured-yet-flirty skirt.  I feel like it’s very very me  🙂
And I still had a few leftovers from a sleeve… so I made a bandanna for Clara, and a new little zipped pouch to hold her poo-bags. Â *
*it’s the law in Australia that if you are walking a dog, you MUST be carrying  little placky bags so you can pick up after your dog, there’s a hefty fine if you’re caught without them! I just used to tie them on to Sienna’s lead and then for blog pictures would try to hide them because they’re so ugly…  or take her off her lead for a bit… you can see them in an earlier picture here…  anyway I don’t know why I didn’t make a little bag like this aaaages ago!
I used an old zip and attached a jump ring and a little swivel clip so it can clip onto her lead. Â The swivel clip was a leftover from when I made my winter boots… they’re not terribly robust so I plan to replace it with a mini carabina when I can get hold of one.
The only new things I used for this refashion were: thread, the zip in the skirt, and the zip, jump ring and swivel clip in Clara’s bag. Â Not too bad!
Details:
Jacket and skirt; my own design, finagled from an old mens’ trouser suit
Bodysuit; the Nettie by Closet Case patterns, from paprika stretchy stuff, details here
Shoes: Misano, from Labels boutique
Awesome job. ZI may have to give this a go. I wear suits almost every day.
thanks Susan! 🙂
Amazing!!!! What a grand transformation from a manly suit to a womanly outfit with flare. Thank you so much for showing us and talking about each step. Clara suits her little suit refashion too! Great idea for the little bag! 🙂
thank you very much Lisa! 🙂 xx
What a fun and beautiful remake! I love that you saved all of the pockets, and the gussets are just adorable!!
thank you very much Yvonne!
I couldn’t wait to see what you would do with this challenge Caroline and of COURSE you did not disappoint! So stylish, original and a great fit. It really does look like a suit you might buy at Louis Vuitton – no one would EVER believe this outfit cost you a whole $22 🙂 Stunning and you make it all read like so much fun!
thank you very much Kathleen, whoa, that’s a huge compliment! 🙂 xx
A totally stunning and smashing result. Beautifully thought out and made. It does suit you so well. I laughed when I got to the picture of you and Clara. Chic from head to toe, neck to paws!
thank you so much Barbara! glad we could give you a chuckle 🙂
I’m totally mindblown at how fabulous your suit refashion turned out! Such lovely fabric and now you’ve given it and its beautiful tailoring new life. Congrats!
thank you Louisa! 🙂
Fantastic from first stitch to last. I think this is one of my favorite things you have ever made – of course I love a jacket and this one is so clever. And I know exactly how difficult it is to change those men’s trousers into a skirt, not only did you make a nicely fitting skirt but the flippy back – divine! the whole look is fantastic and I think that jacket would be great with some slim suede pants….
aw, thank you so much Beth! that’s a huge compliment! yes, the skirt was particularly difficult, but I am so happy with how it turned out! 🙂
This is an amazing suit!
The skirt is gorgeous. I want to make a skirt as well and had been trying to come up with ways to get more fullness and had concluded that I would make godets out of the sleeves, place them below the pockets and put the cuffs at the bottom as a feature! I may add another godet at the back using the back vent from the jacket.
Love the creases in the front of the skirt too.
Your work is always gorgeous, impeccably done and just a total inspiration to me!
Thanks!!!
thank you very much Lori! I’m looking forward to seeing your suit refashion 🙂
WoW! Awesome makeover. This is stellar, from the design itself to the execution of it. I love how you had a vision and took definite steps to make it happen. A true professional. The button cuff in the skirt and the kimono sleeve are brilliant ideas.
Yes, I have cut into a finely tailored garment before, my tartan jacket, and felt a bit sick about it. What’s so cool is you honoured the original while making it your own. Applause applause.
thank you Melanie! I’ve always though your tartan jacket remake is one of the most inspiring refashions I’ve ever seen! you did an outstanding job 🙂
I think you did an amazing job!
thank you Lesley! 🙂
OH, you nailed it girl! Your suit looks fabulous!!! REALLY REALLY AWESOME!
I love the long over short proportions. I love the volume over fitted as well. Thanks for the inspo.
‘Tis true…not many suits in the good will stores here. My local no longer has a section devoted to two piece suits, there are so few.
thank you Sue! Are you doing one? I hope so, I’m looking forward to seeing you work some magic with a suit too 😉 xx
A fabulous make over! I actually have a jacket lying here, cut up halfway…
thank you! I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with it! 🙂
You never fail to inspire!
thank you Elle! 🙂
Your suit looks amazing! I’ve cut up men’s sweaters, but I don’t think I’d ever have the nerve to cut up a suit. You are very brave.
thank you Irene! It didn’t feel very brave, but I am very happy with the results 🙂
This is a wonderful refashion – the little flippy skirt back is lovely and I think the kimono shape is perfect for you. The accessories you made are also perfect. Well done! I have a suit, but can’t think what to do with it!!
thank you so much Sue! I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with your suit 🙂
Are you kidding me?! You well and thoroughly went through that jacket for sure! What amazes me is that you produced kimono sleeves…GENIUS! And you didn’t stop there, even the length of the skirt was perfect and it totally created the most amazing look! And the ever adorable pup is stylish too! Well done my Beauty! You get my vote!
aw, thank you so much for that lovely comment Deborah; that’s so gorgeous of you to say! xx 🙂
That’s so stylish! I particularly like the shape of the jacket.
thank you Catherine!
This is very you! You have totally changed the lines and have received a lovely feminine suit. I love the skirt’s godet detail and flare, the kimono sleeves with their clever arm openings as well as the front opening line. The dog bag neckerchief and bag are such acute bonus!
thank you SaSa! 🙂
What a beautiful transformation. I love the way you did the skirt.
thank you Olivia! 🙂
Just the amount of time it took you to unpick seams just to start with makes my head hurt! ha ha You have an incredible amount of patience and vision to see a project like this through. I’m impressed, but that’s nothing new. You are a sewing genius. 🙂
Thank you! Hehe, unpicking is kinda the easiest bit of it, trust me, lol! 🙂
You did such an amazing job! Love the inserts to the skirt. Beautiful refashion.
thank you Tomasa!
Great refashioning! It’s great that you put so much effort into the details of each outfit you make! Thanks for sharing and inspiring everyone!
thank you very much Katharina! 🙂
Caroline,
Your detailed record of the transformation of the suit is a delight to read. I adore the kimono sleeves, and the side inserts in the skirt. It looks very stylish – and is not dated in any way. Thanks for sharing your step by step process. Another uniquely YOU outfit!
Judy
thank you so much for your lovely comment Judy! 🙂 xx
What an amazing refashion. I especially love the back of the skirt but it all works beautifully together. It must have taken ages! Clara’s accessories are adorable x
thank you so much Megan! It was a tricky one, but I’m so happy with how it worked out in the end 🙂
The little button detail on the skirt is so clever! Love the kimono sleeve, too.
thank you Becky! xx
Exhibiting your wonderful imagination. A brilliant transformation that I’m sure you will thoroughly enjoy wearing.
thank you so much Kim! it was a tricky refashion but I’m so happy with the outcome 🙂
Wonderful remake, you have retained the right amount and changed enough. The results are a credit to you. Enjoyed reading all the detail in the blog post too.
Really enjoyed this post – what a fantastic refashion. The original tailor would be pleased with the result.
Best suit refashion I have seen. I’ve got a feeling I will be attempting some of the amazing tailoring in February when i tackle a Pea Coat for my Couture Class.
Wowsa, such creativity. You are amazing and inspirational. Thanks