"Turning" a suit jacket

[Baron Kurtz]

Literally, turning it inside out when the outside has become irrevocably faded. So that the inner portions of the fabric that have been protected from the elements - typically the sun when on a hanger - are turned to be the outside "visible" portions of the jacket.

Is this do-able? I've found many references in literature (Dickens and Proust immediately spring to mind) to the practice but am unsure how reasonable it is in reality to try to save a garment.

Any advice/ideas are appreciated!!

 

[Fletch]

Might have been possible in the 19c., when coats were often sack cut and construction was simpler.
And were there right and wrong sides to suitings then?

The big fading area on vintage suits seems to be the lap. I blame countless hours in cars with clear unfiltered glass. Sunlight greys out blues, and browns out greys. Hell, my favorite indigo cargo shorts are only 10yo and the lap has faded like mad.

I have a 1940s suit which has noticeable fading - all my own fault. I piled it in a storeroom with windows facing east - and no shades. And didn't touch it for 3 months. That's 90 days of morning sunlight - just where the fold hit the top of the shoulders - except the wrinkles. Which now are burnt, Hiroshima-fashion, into the shoulders.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Well, the idea is that a jacket is essentially bilaterally symmetrical, and so the inside right portion of the jacket fronts can become the outside of the left, etc. etc.

I think, as a layman, that turning should be possible. But if anyone out there actually knows it's not, and can give me reasons I'd appreciate not wasting time/money on a wild goose chase.

bk

 

[herringbonekid]

Baron, unpicking and redoing the canvas, welt pockets, buttonholes etc would be a nightmare of a job, and i doubt it could be done at all without raw edges fraying away to become unworkable. i don't think you'd find anyone willing to take on such a job.

also, if you flipped the fronts the breast pocket and buttonholes would be on the other side, i.e. a woman's fastening.

i would forget it personally.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Yeah, I know it's a hell of a job. I would double up on breast pockets and lapel buttonholes, and sew shut the old fastening buttonholes, or pretend that the chap was cack handed (it's a country/shooting suit).

The fabric is absolutely astonishing - It's astonishing enough, and the suit is British tweed (Guisachan check w/ red overcheck) 1930s 3-piece-y enough, to put the rest of my next 20 years vintage budget into the job. And it fits.

You're saying the job is theoretically possible, right, with all the disclaimers for shit that might go wrong?

bk

 

[herringbonekid]

You're saying the job is theoretically possible, right, with all the disclaimers for shit that might go wrong?

yes, anything is possible (when you look at the work that some professional re-weavers can do) but how much it would cost, and whether you could find anyone willing... is another saga.

 

[dhermann1]

Aren't a lot of seams sewn up, then the excess cut off? You'd have a heck of a time doing a lot of seams without that extra edge to work with.

 

[MikeBravo]

Aren't a lot of seams sewn up, then the excess cut off? You'd have a heck of a time doing a lot of seams without that extra edge to work with.

A lot of modern clothes are made with an overlocker which sews the material and cuts off the excess. I think with older, better quality clothes this was not the case.

One wouldn't know without unstitching the threads, though

 

[MrBern]

Ive only heard of 'turning' the collar & cuffs on a shirt when they are frayed. But I cant even recall the last time I'd seen a sign advertising that sort of service. A lot of shirts have the collar stays now, so its not really possible.

Doing a whole suit...I doubt it. and a lot of fabric weaves are different on the opposite sides.

Sounds like a tricky operation. Like in WWII when women would cut down menswear for their own use.

 

[Qirrel]

Is this do-able? I've found many references in literature (Dickens and Proust immediately spring to mind) to the practice but am unsure how reasonable it is in reality to try to save a garment.

Possible, but expensive. Unpicking everything, down to the pockets, buttonholes, pad stitches etc. is a very time consuming, not to say risky job. A single slip and you could cut or fray the fabric beyond repair. (Well, perhaps not quite, but reweaving are very expensive.)

 

[dhermann1]

Babe Ruth trivia: When he was in the boys home as a kid, they tought him tailoring. When he was a big rich superstar, wearing fancy silk shirts, he still used to take them apart and turn the collar himself when they became worn.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

as does any reasonable person.

 

[Stanley Doble]

I think MrBern put his finger on it. You can turn the collar and cuffs of a shirt when they get frayed, you could do the same with a suit when the collar and cuffs get worn. I don't think you could turn a whole suit inside out.

Having a suit turned when it got worn used to be common. In Joseph Mitchell's story "A Sporting Man" the subject of the story, a Bowery character called Commodore Dutch, brags that in his younger days he had a whole wardrobe of suits that hadn't ever been turned. This was in the heyday of the Bowery as a theatrical, entertainment and sporting district, 1890s to 1910, which coincided with Commodore Dutch's young manhood and the most prosperous part of his life.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Another solution to the wear problem was to reinforce wear areas with leather. Leather edging on jacket cuffs and pockets, and leather elbow patches on tweed jackets used for hunting and rough country wear.

 

[Stanley Doble]

If a suit got faded it might be possible to have it dyed. But I think at that point most men would sell or discard the suit and buy a new one. In stories from the 19th century characters were sometimes described as wearing a rusty old suit or dress, I think this may refer to the uneven fading of age. Such characters were usually very old, or misers or both.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Or "Shabby Genteel People" of Dickens fame with their reblacked (dyed) jackets and hats that would fade again very quickly as the bad dye washed/wore out.

tbh, I'm happy to wear the faded jacket for outdoor pursuits. It's such a fantastic fabric that I can't bear to discard it altogether. It's the kind of rugged tweed fabric that shouldn't have a "right" and "wrong" side. As I say, I think it should be possible to turn the jacket … it'll just be very expensive, and that if I can find someone willing - unlikely!

bk