How To Resize a Jacket

How to resize a jacket or any other article of clothing is quickly becoming an essential skill in the age of global uncertainty. We live in an economically challenged world where purchasing new goods seems to refer to only the basics- such as food and toilet paper.

It’s up to us as humans to use the current situation as a wake up call. We need to take responsibility for our planet and the global climate situation. This means changing our habits when it comes to new vs. upcycled or recycled goods. Let’s change our collective mindset to one of repurposing what we have and living with less.

Learn to sew and cook and garden. It’s back to basics and that’s a good thing. Live simply so other can simply live- so we ALL can simply live.

I found this Patagonia fleece jacket at the thrift store. High quality goods at a second hand price… a no brainer. But the jacket was too big and needed resizing.

I took the jacket apart and resized all of the pieces. Follow along with my step by step video tutorial and start honing your upcycling sewing skills too. It’s a brave new world where eco-fashion and repurposing second hand quality clothing are absolutely essential skills to have!

Finding a template

I used a similar Patagonia jacket I already had as a template. Because the red jacket is exactly my size and worked perfectly as a pattern.

I take the jacket completely apart and then reconstruct it with altered and resized pieces.

In the video tutorial, I go through all of the steps in altering this jacket- in great detail. I even took the old zipper out when shortening the jacket, and put in a brand new zipper.

Zipper replacement

After taking a poll on Instagram, as to which zipper color to use in the refashioned garment- the fuchsia zipper came out as the winner.

A great zipper color choice, it matches the Patagonia logo and fuchsia is the bomb. If you ask me… pink and green together are perhaps the best color combo of all time.

So don’t hesitate, give alterations a try and learn as you go in learning how to resize a jacket or anything else. Altering clothing just takes patience, creativity and a handful of sewing skills that are easy to master if you are so inclined!