Suit makeover

When I thrift I like to look first at the fabric of the items on the rack and go to the ones that stand out, then I look at the size, if it’s too big or small, I think of how I might recreate it. Such was the case of this suit.

Thrift stores are full of polyester longer skirt suits, needless to say, they are not big sellers so they go on sale often. I really liked the navy and white pinstripe of this $5 set.

It was a size 16, but it was from probably the 90’s so it ran smaller but still needed to be altered down. I look like I am playing dress up in my mom’s clothes in this pix lol.

I knew I wanted to make the jacket into a cape blazer, so I took one out I already had as a guide.

I started by taking out cuff seam as well as the side seam. I wanted to make the sleeve as long and wide as possible. I did the same thing with the sleeve lining so it would match.

Normally, to do this I leave the shoulder seam attached like in the first photo, but since I had to alter the waist, I took the whole sleeve off.

After ironing the sleeve out, I attached the lining and white piping with pins and ran it through the machine.

I pinned back to the shell of the jacket and sewed it, the second photo shows what it looks like now under the cape flap, that I cut the side seam to fit my waist and added piping to it as well.

For the skirt, I wanted to make it into a dress, I used one as a pattern, pinned it and put it back on the dress form to make sure it looked right, when I got it where I wanted it I sewed the new seams and cut the excess off.

To make the shoe bows, I took extra fabric and piping, sewed it into a square, folded it over and secured the middle. I glued on a shoe clip and let them dry.

I put a ruffled shirt under it for the first round. I like to put sleeveless tops under a strapless dress, it gives them a new look and is a great option if you don’t like wearing strapless dresses.

It is fine to wear alone as well. It gets hot here in Texas so I won’t always wear the cape.

This is how I will normally wear it, with the cape unbuttoned.

But it also looks cute with a belt! I love the pinstripes, especially with the matching bow clips for my shoes.

Here you can see the back. I love recreating something new from something old. This suit now has a brand new sassy identity and for $5 it is now a great one of a kind outfit!

Blessings,

Eden