Best way to knock off my own jacket?
July 26, 2023 8:41 AM Subscribe
I have a jacket that I love (fancy, not outerwear) that I bought years ago. It’s black, in a particular kind of fabric that’s one of the reasons I love it. I would love to have an exact copy of it in navy. Is it possible to have this made, and who would I go to?
Getting the exact cut to match is really important to me. I know that getting an exact fabric match will likely be impossible, and I’m fine with that. But I don’t have enough time or experience to go to every fabric store to find the closest potential matches. So my question is, are there people you can go to who can do this, and who can return the original garment in the same condition (won’t take it apart to make the copy)? And is it possible to make this happen for a less than obscene price? How would I find such a person?
I saw a previous question similar to this from 2010, but it was about dress shirts - I suspect the fabric issue makes this trickier?
Getting the exact cut to match is really important to me. I know that getting an exact fabric match will likely be impossible, and I’m fine with that. But I don’t have enough time or experience to go to every fabric store to find the closest potential matches. So my question is, are there people you can go to who can do this, and who can return the original garment in the same condition (won’t take it apart to make the copy)? And is it possible to make this happen for a less than obscene price? How would I find such a person?
I saw a previous question similar to this from 2010, but it was about dress shirts - I suspect the fabric issue makes this trickier?
If I understand you, you'd like to have someone make a second jacket from scratch in a different fabric (presumably without taking apart the one you already have). Depending on how "constructed" the jacket is, this undertaking is likely to cost quite a bit of money, as you're effectively asking for a bespoke jacket. Men's jackets are typically much more extensively constructed compared to women's jackets, but as a point of comparison a bespoke blazer runs to a few thousand dollars at least. I wouldn't expect yours to cost quite as much, but I wouldn't expect it to be cheap either. Multiple hundreds would be my guess. There are plenty of custom tailors in NYC that could talk to you about this.
posted by slkinsey at 9:41 AM on July 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by slkinsey at 9:41 AM on July 26, 2023 [5 favorites]
About ten years ago, I asked an independent tailor what it would cost to copy a relatively simple coat, an ideal long coat for winter biking. The cost was going to be about $500 plus materials, so probably about $700 if I scouted around for the materials myself.
I did in fact seriously consider this, and consider seeing if I could get competing quotes. Ultimately I decided to try to get a new biking jacket because it was cheaper, but I have always been dissatisfied with my biking jackets ever since; none of them are nearly as good and I've gone through several trying to get a better fit. Not quite $700-worth, since most of them were used, but it has not been the savings that you would think.
A truly bespoke jacket is made to measure and has multiple fittings, so it would cost more than a copy of a jacket.
posted by Frowner at 9:46 AM on July 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
I did in fact seriously consider this, and consider seeing if I could get competing quotes. Ultimately I decided to try to get a new biking jacket because it was cheaper, but I have always been dissatisfied with my biking jackets ever since; none of them are nearly as good and I've gone through several trying to get a better fit. Not quite $700-worth, since most of them were used, but it has not been the savings that you would think.
A truly bespoke jacket is made to measure and has multiple fittings, so it would cost more than a copy of a jacket.
posted by Frowner at 9:46 AM on July 26, 2023 [1 favorite]
A tailor with custom/bespoke clothing or clothing re-creation services, but some will still ask the customer to provide the fabric. Dressmakers.
Don't visit several fabric stores; try customer service at Mood Fabrics (locations in NYC, LA, and Miami, and an online shop).
Was your fancy jacket bought off the rack? Was it altered for you in any way? To create a pattern, it is easier to dissemble the item. For that purpose, you could set up eBay and Poshmark notifications for a secondhand, same-sized jacket in any color.
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:03 AM on July 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
Don't visit several fabric stores; try customer service at Mood Fabrics (locations in NYC, LA, and Miami, and an online shop).
Was your fancy jacket bought off the rack? Was it altered for you in any way? To create a pattern, it is easier to dissemble the item. For that purpose, you could set up eBay and Poshmark notifications for a secondhand, same-sized jacket in any color.
posted by Iris Gambol at 10:03 AM on July 26, 2023 [2 favorites]
A good local dressmaker (not just an alterations place) or custom tailor can probably do it, though some of them will specialize in certain types of garments -- someone who mostly makes prom dresses probably won't be the best choice to tailor your blazer because the specifics of each are different.
It isn't strictly necessary to take things apart to knock off the pattern, but how much it strictly isn't necessary depends somewhat on how complicated the thing is in the first place. Relatively clean straight lines without a lot of furfles and fleebungs can be traced off an existing garment fairly readily, but once you get into a lot of pleats and darts and ruching, all of that gets harder. It'll still require some fitting to make sure the final item is right, so do it with a local place rather than an internet one.
A really good dressmaker/tailor with experience in the kind of garment you want could probably make you a very close copy without you ever taking it off. (Okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but mostly because they would likely want to measure you while you weren't wearing a jacket.)
How much this sort of thing costs varies dramatically. There are home based businesses that will do this sort of thing for a couple of hundred dollars plus materials. There are custom tailors and dressmakers who would do it for a couple of thousand dollars plus materials.
In terms of fabric, I think the recommendation to simply consult with Mood makes the most sense given your location. If they don't have it and can't get it, they'll at least be able to identify what it is and where to look for it.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:23 PM on July 26, 2023
It isn't strictly necessary to take things apart to knock off the pattern, but how much it strictly isn't necessary depends somewhat on how complicated the thing is in the first place. Relatively clean straight lines without a lot of furfles and fleebungs can be traced off an existing garment fairly readily, but once you get into a lot of pleats and darts and ruching, all of that gets harder. It'll still require some fitting to make sure the final item is right, so do it with a local place rather than an internet one.
A really good dressmaker/tailor with experience in the kind of garment you want could probably make you a very close copy without you ever taking it off. (Okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but mostly because they would likely want to measure you while you weren't wearing a jacket.)
How much this sort of thing costs varies dramatically. There are home based businesses that will do this sort of thing for a couple of hundred dollars plus materials. There are custom tailors and dressmakers who would do it for a couple of thousand dollars plus materials.
In terms of fabric, I think the recommendation to simply consult with Mood makes the most sense given your location. If they don't have it and can't get it, they'll at least be able to identify what it is and where to look for it.
posted by jacquilynne at 12:23 PM on July 26, 2023
If it's a name brand, it may still be available on ebay and such.
If not, recreating it may cost more than it's worth. A tailor should be able to recreate it in any fabric you want after taking measurements of the actual item and or measuring you, but the cost...
posted by kschang at 1:14 PM on July 26, 2023
If not, recreating it may cost more than it's worth. A tailor should be able to recreate it in any fabric you want after taking measurements of the actual item and or measuring you, but the cost...
posted by kschang at 1:14 PM on July 26, 2023
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posted by theora55 at 9:22 AM on July 26, 2023