Going to a Wedding and Nothing to Wear!

Not me........My friend's dad is going to a wedding. He doesn't want a new suit, but he needs to wear one to this wedding. He is mostly in a wheelchair and needs help getting in and out of his clothes. So, she and her mom brought this suit and pair of khakis to me to see if I could put a little ease into them. I took the three seams in the back of the jacket and the three in the lining, of course, apart and stitched them back giving as much ease as possible. I think it added almost an inch and a half across the back. It was difficult tapering at the top of the seams where the collar and sleeves meet the back, but it worked. I told her mom, who came to get them a few minutes ago, that she would need to take them to the cleaners to be pressed, though. My iron isn't that good. This picture is fuzzy and the jacket is hanging kind of cockeyed, but it really does look ok in person.


For the suit pants, I took apart the back seam pretty far down and sewed it back, tapering until I got about an inch and a half from the waist band. I then finished the edges of the rest of the opening all the way up, even including the facing. I took a piece of black knit tshirt type fabric and stitched a casing for a piece of elastic in the top of it. I then inserted the elastic casing into the waist band a couple of inches from the center on both sides. When I let go the seam closed up where you couldn't tell unless you look closely that anything had been done. Since he will be in a wheelchair and have a jacket on, no one would be able to tell anyway.

You can see where the knit covered elastic peeks out at the top of the waist band, but not too badly. When the waist band is pulled apart you can definitely see where the ease comes in to play. I stitched the knit wedge down to where the opening ends in a v shape. I tacked the knit to the seam below the opening. I hope these pictures explain better than my words do. I hope he is happy with the altered pants.




Now, for the khakis. They had a 30 inch waist, and my friend's mom said he needed a 36 inch waist! Now, I'm no magician, but I had an idea that might work, so, since he couldn't wear them the way they were, I decided that I would see what I could do, and if it didn't work then he still wouldn't be able to wear them. LOL!! Anywho, I took apart the back seam and both side seams. I had to cut through the waist band at the sides since there is no seam there. I stitched the back seam giving as much ease as possible which added about 2 inches!!! Then I sewed a wedge of knit fabric into both of the side seams. I have done this with a lot of my mother's pants. When a person is sitting all day, even elastic waisted pants start to bind. Mother doesn't tuck any of her shirts and is all covered up by the wraps that I've made her along with an afghan on her lap so nothing shows anyway. Comfort is the number one concern with her. My friend said that her dad wears polo shirts with khakis and that he doesn't tuck them in so that no one would see the sides anyway. I hope he will be happy with these. Her mom seemed pleased when she came by to get them. I was not planning to charge anything for doing this. I told my friend that I had no expense, except a short piece of elastic, some thread, and a couple of scraps of knit fabric in fixing these. I was doing it for her because she is such a wonderful friend to me, that I appreciate the relationship she has with her dad, and that I did it for that reason. But, her mom insisted on paying me. That was a nice surprise.