Saturday, June 29, 2013

The Wedding Suit

Blogging has been off my radar while we prepared for my oldest son's wedding last week on the Solstice.
Sewing may have been my emotional saving.
 Paparazzi (friends with cameras) annoying the groom
                                 The groom requested a suit make-over which I proudly began. 
The pressure of design perfection for the occasion hadn't hit me yet. 
He had found a pre-loved grey suit which fit in the shoulders and at the waist. Those aspects could be crossed off my sewing list.
My son is 6'3" and under 170 lbs. Sleeve and pant hems had to be let out.
 Luckily the jacket was a good length.

I added and subtracted elements. I wanted to include Japanese Boro applique and Sashiko stitching. It needed to be formal enough and yet a bit edgy without pretension.


Men's clothing is much trickier to design in many ways. It's easy for it to look contrived or tasteless.
There are just so many more rules than in women's fashions.

I finished off the lapels with some stitched and torn gauze that I ink-stained to go with the various shades.

The basic shape changers for the suit included tapering the pants and jacket body (alot). There are sleeve cuffs that actually button. The single vent back became a double vent with a great lining fabric. The front closure has an added placket from a darker grey jacket of similar weight . The dark panel has three closure buttons and the lighter grey has two for multiple ways to fasten.

My son found a vest that worked perfectly.

As the Designer/Mom I wanted to add something  distinctive and nostalgic. So I printed a favorite children's book character just inside the front. He is from the Swedish/Finnish Moomin books.
 I'm thinking it's  mushy but really, a very chic final touch. Or maybe just a short love note to my son