Clothes are supposed to fit our bodies, not the other way around! My fabulous vintage blazer wouldn’t close comfortably, and I had a pair of trousers that had also become too tight. Rather than getting rid of either piece, I decided to make them fit while transforming them into a coordinating suit.
Make Tight Clothes Bigger With Contrasting Fabric
I used fabric from a pair of floral pyjama pants to add triangular side panels to the blazer. The inserts created the extra room I needed while looking like an intentional part of the original design.
I then used the same fabric to make the trousers bigger. Adding the floral panels solved the fit problem and connected two completely unrelated garments, turning them into a unique coordinating suit.
This is one of my favourite refashioning tricks: if an alteration cannot be hidden, make it the star of the design!
Use the Same Method to Create Different Looks
Once you understand how to add fabric where a garment feels tight, you can adapt that basic method in all sorts of creative ways.
In this video, I also share how I combined a cropped hoodie with a tight blazer to create a cool hybrid jacket. Then I revisit an eighties dress that became a cropped blazer and matching suit with only a few clever cuts and straight stitches.
Different garments, different results and the same basic idea: use what you have to make what you want.
