How to temporarily tailor a blazer

March 17, 2017 10:49 AM

I bought a blazer that fits well in my shoulders and is in a fabric that I really like. However, it's a little big in the torso and as a result looks a bit boxy. Is there a way I can easily (and reversibly) make it fit better in the torso until I have time to get it altered?

I intend to have this garment professionally taken in, but I'm planning to wear it next week and didn't have time to get it altered before then. Is there anything I can do to it to make it appear more fitted that doesn't look obvious and amateurish? I'd rather have it be a little big than, say, bunch up the fabric in the back and stick a binder clip on it, but if there's a more subtle way to temporarily improve the fit I'd love to hear about it.

I have sewed things before ever, but don't have access to a sewing machine.

posted by thrungva to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (8 answers total)

Is it lined? If not, you could hand-sew the seams you want to have taken in and iron from the outside to smooth things out. Use a pressing cloth to avoid damaging your fabric. But blending seams is tricky and these results would be only marginally bender than binder clips if your stitches aren't straight and even.
posted by esoterrica at 10:58 AM on March 17, 2017

Depending on the fabric of the blazer, you can use safety pins (diaper pins are great for this), on the inside, making sure that the pins stay within the weave of the fabric on the outermost layer so they don't (or barely) show. This takes a few tries to get right, but is usually doable if it's a thick weave.
posted by Mchelly at 11:00 AM on March 17, 2017

They make cinch clips for this purpose--same idea as the binder clip, yeah, but a little more professional and comfortable. I linked to a boring example but there are tons of cuter ones on Etsy.
posted by mama casserole at 11:05 AM on March 17, 2017

Are you a woman? If so, you can just try adding a belt over it. Depending on how structured and how boxy it is, this may or may not work...
posted by brainmouse at 11:15 AM on March 17, 2017

Do you wear it opened or closed? You can take up a little slack by scootching the buttons further away from the edge of the blazer so that it overlaps more when it's buttoned up but there's a limit before it starts looking lopsided (since you can't move the buttonholes proportionally).
posted by yeahlikethat at 11:27 AM on March 17, 2017

Best answer: You're getting lots of ways to do this but in my view they are not passing the "obvious and amateurish" part. I vote that the answer to 'can I do this' is simply 'no,' and would just not wear it until I could get it to a tailor.
posted by kmennie at 12:40 PM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I'd try the belt idea to see if it looked good. If not, I'd plan on not wearing it.
posted by MandaSayGrr at 4:52 PM on March 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for all of the suggestions, there were lots of ideas here that I hadn't considered. I tried a few things out but ultimately decided that none was better than wearing a slightly-too-big blazer, and that I should leave this particular task to the professionals.
posted by thrungva at 10:27 AM on March 23, 2017