Hi everyone!

We’re going to get right into it today and talk about tailoring. I LOVE a good tailored look. Structured pieces are my go-to whenever I want that ‘put-together’ feeling, and I have become a collector of vintage blazers and vests, all of which were found in the men’s section of thrift stores and antique shops. There’s something about a well tailored look that feels timeless, and that’s a hard quality to find in any style.

I also think classically tailored pieces paired with more modern or feminine shapes create really interesting looks. Here are some of my favorite inspirational shots!

Don’t these shots just make you want to go out and by a pocket watch? No, just me?

Well even if you aren’t obsessed with wearing tailored clothing to the extent that I am (I won’t hold it against you), I think you’ll be able to appreciate the tradition and hard work that goes into the techniques used to make them. After all, they are what make these pieces sharp and perfectly fitted, and last for decades longer then clothing made with most modern techniques.

I have wanted to learn more about this type of sewing for several years, but I’ll admit that being a self-taught sewer has made me feel intimidated and overwhelmed by these types of sewing skills. However, I am all about challenging myself, so I have decided it is finally time to get over my fears and finally get started. But where to begin?!

I have no idea what other sewer’s processes are like, but for me, pondering this kind of question usually requires lots of coffee, books, online research, notebooks, and many many lists.

After much contemplation, and making an agreement not to judge myself too harshly for any errors that I make along this journey to learn a new skill, I decided on a waistcoat and a blazer. It sounds very ambitious to take on two pieces like this, but I’m not giving myself a time-limit on completing these so I think it will be manageable. I want to focus on doing them well, not quickly.

The tartan pattern is made up of cream and rust, and goes really well with the fabric I chose for the waistcoat. Very exciting!

I struggled a bit more with choosing the pattern for this. There are so many different styles of blazers, differentiated by the fit of the body, as well as differences in collar, pocket, and shoulder style. When I thought about how I wanted to use this item, I knew I needed it to fit well as a blazer, but with enough room to fit comfortably with thin layers underneath as well. This lead me to a ‘boyfriend’ style, that is made up of a straighter, slightly looser cut.

The additional benefit of this style is that for a beginner blazer, the less-fitted body will be easier for me to properly fit to myself. A more fitted shape could require more detailed altering to get a perfect fit, which would be an additional challenge on top of the already challenging techniques I’ll be using to put this together.

Once I had decided on the shape and style I was looking for, the pattern below felt like the right choice. This is a new pattern from Burda Style, and is available from most pattern retailers.

However, the one thing I new immediately that I would change about this pattern was the pocket style. There is nothing wrong with the style that they have included, but because I will be trying to learn classic tailoring, I’m going to use a pocket style that is more akin to that look, such as a welt pocket.

At this point, in an effort to take my time with these projects and explore all of my options for how to execute them, I thought it would be best to take this opportunity to do some research. The nerd, and teacher, in me loves some good old fashioned research, so I quickly hunted down some resources from my own book collection that I thought would be helpful.

Over the years I’ve collected quite a few books about sewing, and among them I found two in particular that I thought would be relevant to these projects. The first is the book below, by author Thomas von Nordheim, which was published in 2012. It’s available on Amazon in hardcover or ebook format.

This book follows the step-by-step process of using tailoring techniques to sew a blazer. That’s right, this whole book is about putting together ONE blazer. It’s filled with really helpful color photos, and detailed descriptions about every step of the process. While the style of the blazer being made is much more fitted then the one I’ll be making, most of the processes will still be applicable to my project.

I had flipped through this book before, but I started reading it from the beginning in detail. I quickly realized that it’s going to take many projects to learn and absorb all of the techniques explored in it, and that these first projects will be a very small step into the tailoring world. With all new skills you have to start somewhere though, so that’s okay! I decided to flag the portions of the book that I would apply to this blazer. This helped to narrow down the content, and identify the specific areas I would have to learn about in more detail.

From there I pulled another reference from my collection - The Art of Sewing book collection.

This set of books is from the 70’s, released by Time Life Books, and is a popular vintage item online. I have turned to these so many times since owning them, and suspected that they would come in handy again. Each book in the collection focuses on a different sewing theme, and from them I pulled the volume called Basic Tailoring, which is appropriately covered in herringbone tweed!

It contains many of the same techniques that Vintage Couture Tailoring covers, but with some differences in method, and different photos and descriptions. I again flagged all of the sections that I thought I may need during these projects, for quick reference and further reading.

Once it’s time to start implementing some of these techniques, I will also be using online research to help guide me through. I have pinned some articles and tutorials that seem relevant, and I know YouTube will have plenty of helpful videos as well. Once I get into the actual sewing portion of this journey, I’ll share all of the references I end up using with you.

So, fabrics and patterns have been chosen, preliminary research on the how-to’s has been done, all required materials have been purchased/gathered, and the to-do list has been put together. That brings us to the end of part 1!

I’m excited to continue my work on these, but will have to do some more detailed reading before I get started. For now I am satisfied with the work I’ve done so far, and am happy that I’m finally making some headway on this personal goal. So I’m going to hit pause on this adventure, and put aside my preparations and plans to pick up later for part 2.

In the meantime I’ll be working on some fun holiday projects, and a new piece of knitting - all of which I’ll be sure to share with you here.

I hope this post inspires you to try something you’ve been afraid to tackle. If you’ve gone on your own adventure trying to learn a new skill, I’d love to hear about it! If you also have a winter project you’ve decided to tackle, please share!

As always thanks for joining me, and happy sewing!

~Amanda

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