I popped out to see what furniture and kitchen thrifting is available for our Mica LLC property. Now I have a couple leads for furnishing the rental property and I’ll share more once we get moving on that. I also found a wool coat I’ve been searching for on resale sites for a while; a long, simple wool coat. I’ll show you how Goodwill +Alteration = a perfectly fitting coat!
Goodwill Tag Sale
Goodwill was having a half-off, purple tag sale which dropped the price from $14.99 to under $10 for this Merona coat. It’s a wool (70%)/rayon (30%) blend with a polyester lining. The coat fits well through the shoulders, and the body. The sleeve length, on the other hand, is too short. Not a problem – I know there is a way to lengthen them. Where are my seam rippers!?
Alteration
Deconstruction
First, using seam rippers, I carefully removed all the stitching at the cuff of both sleeves. This was time consuming, as the lining was well attached and the cuffs had beautiful corners.
After deconstruction, I saw that this was going to take a bit of creativity. The way the fabric was cut to make the square corners didn’t leave me with a way to recreate the same look while adding as much length as possible. Also, I have no professional training. I use YouTube and make things up as I go along… so forgive the ameture work and the descriptions without the correct vocabulary!
Creative cuffs
I decided the best thing to do was use the tiny ironed hem on the vertical seam. This way I could just follow the curve and make the alteration as obscure as possible.
Then, I folded the cuff under by about two centimeters, just enough to sew the tiny hem. I folded this once because the raw edge won’t be visible once the lining is reattached.
A pop of purple
To finish the lining, I pinned and machine sewed purple bias tape that I made a while back for a custom apron I sold on Etsy. I again didn’t fold the lining under at all, and simply applied the bias tape to the end of the cuff. In hindsight, I should have measured the diameter of the wool cuff as the lining cuff was a bit larger.
Then, I hand stitched the bias tape/lining to the inside of the cuff to be sure the unfinished wool hem was covered. Due to the lining cuff being larger, I decided to pleat the bias tape in a couple of places. I could have, and probably should have, taken the bias tape off and gathered the lining into the correct length bias tape. I didn’t to save time, We had dinner plans, and I wanted to wear my coat!
Finishing touches
Finally, I ironed the cuffs to remove the old fold, and replaced the buttons on each sleeve. I was careful to not steam the wool – it could shrink. Now I have this inexpensive Goodwill + altered coat tailored to fit my extra long arms! I’m thrilled!
