Cropped blazers are a go-to style for Fall 2020. I always LOVE it when I see a look come into fashion that can easily be achieved on the cheap with a little Refashion prowess.
Some of you will remember my cropped sweater Refashion (another easy DIY way to score an on-trend wardrobe staple).
The bad news is, a high-quality cropped blazer can cost around $80 (and above!). The good news is, much like sweaters, high-quality (though usually very dated) blazers are easy to find at thrift stores.
When I found this boxy & dated blazer for $1, I knew it would work perfectly for my purposes.
This is an interesting look, isn’t it?
You’re looking at what I’m guessing is a late ’90s blazer. It’s really well-made, but not a very current style. No worries! We’re about to give it a new life!
Anybody remember this store and its private label?
Of course, the most essential step in creating a DIY cropped blazer is…well…cropping the blazer!
You can see I cropped my blazer right above the pockets. You can crop yours wherever you like, but make sure you take your seam allowance (whatever that will be for you) into account.
Then, I folded the bottom edge of my blazer under twice and pinned it.
Some of you are no doubt balking at the above image.
“Why isn’t she doing a blind hem for this?!?!” you’re screaming, angry fists to the sky.
“Doesn’t this hack know this is going to look sloppy if she just sews a straight stitch across that bottom hem?!?!” some of you are surely snarling while tossing whatever device you’re reading this on across the room.
Don’t worry! I’m going to make this hem look oh-so-fancy while saving time (by not having to do a blind hem) thanks to one of my machine’s decorative stitches!
I chose this one right here.
Then, I put my blazer under the needle!
When I was done, it looked like this:
Now for the sleeves!
If you look at the before pics of this blazer, you can see the sleeves are too long for my little T-Rex arms. :'(
Not to worry! I put my blazer on and folded them under once…pinning where I wanted them to fall.
However, when I tried to put them under my sewing machine needle, I discovered the sleeves were too small to fit over the free arm of my machine. The layers of fabric and lining kept bunching up when I tried to sew. :/
I solved this problem by adding a simple basting stitch on the pinned cuffs, then removing the pins altogether.
This made it much easier to add the same decorative stitching I used on the bottom hem to my blazer’s cuffs!
I just stitched right over some of the basting stitches, as these were easily removed with my seam ripper.
But what about those boring buttons?
I thought the original buttons on this blazer were pretty ho-hum, so I pulled out my vintage button stash (that used to be my Grandmother’s) and sought out a couple of replacements.
I think they’re a big improvement over the original buttons, don’t you?
I stitched my new buttons on. Here’s how to sew on a button if you’ve never done so.
And just like that, I have a new (to me) DIY cropped blazer…perfect for work or play!
My latest wig basically just looks like my hair from circa 2014. I want to go back to her and tell her to make better relationship choices, but other than that, really like the ‘do!
I’m happy with how my new blazer turned out, especially since I was able to get a pretty pricey look for just one dollar! 🙂 I hope you feel inspired to Refashion a fun fall blazer of your own!
Cheers!
