Remember That $55 Belted-Back Suit ?

[Qirrel]

Except when pressing fails, which it does quite often. When that is the case it becomes a tailoring fix. A bespoke tailor describes a couple of fixes here. Other tailors have recommended cruder fixes such as sewing the back collar together.


BTW, are you a tailor?

No, no, not a tailor. An amateur, at best.

If the "collar creep" isn't some dry-cleaner's fault, and simply pressing the collar down where it should be is not enough, then try fixing it as "a tailor" describes here: http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/forum/showthread.php?43408-jacket-collar-creep-revisited. This has a higher chance of working on a vintage suit because the collar is not constructed with fusibles, and because vintage suit fabrics take better to the iron; that is, they can be stretched and shrunk far more than modern lightweights.

Chris Despos gives a reason for why the collar creeps up like this, which is that the yoke area of the jacket has stretched so that the top part of the collar is to short and wants to roll up. He says that if "a tailor"'s method fails, the collar must be unstitched to be fixed. I bought a (vintage) jacket with this symptom not long ago, and I was able to fix it without ripping a single stitch, simply (relatively anyways) shrinking the problem-area. Besides, the fix he prescribes is not a hugely time-consuming nor difficult alteration. (And better than mine, as it is permanent.)
I wouldn't take the jacket to any alterationist, though. Many alterationists don't have a lot of experience in men's tailoring, and much less fitting of mens garments, which is a whole field of its own.

 

[Johnny J]

Winning bid: $463.88! Not bad!

 

[Tomasso]

it will probably end up going for over $800.

Winning bid: $463.88

I wonder if it was the holes or the small size that kept the price down. Still, a tidy profit on a quick flip. I'm sure that the original ($55) seller is feeling crummy though.

 

[Fidena]

I wonder if it was the holes or the small size that kept the price down. Still, a tidy profit on a quick flip. I'm sure that the original ($55) seller is feeling crummy though.

I wouldn't be surprised if he was still just as blissfully unaware as when he originally sold it.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

... or the small size that kept the price down.

It wasn't all that small. The measurements matched those of my size 39 R belted-back suit. I really did expect it to go for $800+, holes and all. Still a hell of a profit, eh?