I’d usually not bore you readers with a post about an alteration, given that such jobs are a bit, well, boring, don’t showcase my designs and aren’t really the kind of business I’m after in the first place.

I decided to blog this one though for four reasons.

One, to congratulate my good friend Wayne on his graduation!! Good on you dude, now the night church can have some officialness it CERTAINLY has lacked in the past 😉

Two, to poke fun at Wayne for being the ultimate hipster: having a tailor alter your vintage jacket…really?

Three, with the growing number of hipsters around these days, I thought it probably prudent to advertise my skills in the vintage suit alteration area, and

Four, FINE I’ll confess! I actually do enjoy alterations sometimes. It not only gives me an opportunity to learn from the skills of others by reverse engineering, but also sets an interesting challenge: Take apart an expert’s work, understand it well enough to change it, and put it back together so expertly that no-one would even guess it’s been tampered with.

I also find it fascinating how construction techniques have changed (and stayed the same) over the years. Although the placing of in-seam darts on the back side seam was a breeze,

altering the lapel was another story entirely.

Very few mass produced suits these days have this semi-fixed breast plate, and it was actually a bit perplexing when I realized what was going on (when I felt the jacket originally I thought it was a loose plate. Turns out it was fixed, but had torn and moved).

To conclude: thank you Wayne for the support, and congratulations on your graduation. I expect only sound theological advice from now on, no more of this ‘lets hang out with homeless people at Night Church’ craziness!!

And of course: Hipsters of the world, be informed that such alterations are just one of my many tailoring talents.