taking in the sides of a down anorak

[Jennifer Mitol]

So my sewing adventures continue (as I am trapped in my house with a recovering pup…)!

I have a fantastic anorak from Borah Gear but since I have lost a bit of weight, the trunk/waist part of it is awfully huge on me.  I really like it and have no desire to sell it, but I’d love to be able to tinker with it a bit to make the trunk less huge.  The chest, ahem, still fits just fine.  It’s just the waist/back that is quite billowy.

Has anyone added something like darts, or otherwise taken in the waist of a down jacket?  Obviously a regular shirt is easy…but with the baffles and all that I’m quite nervous about trying.

Any thoughts?

[todd]

You still losing weight???  I sense BPL’s first Miss Am winner.  Congratulations!!!!

Does the Borah have vertical side seams?  If so, try this:

(Saw it done somewhere but can’t find it – the person said it was easiest way?)

Turn the anorak inside out.  Then push down from the seam towards the middle of the jacket and sew a seam parallel to the existing seam, half of the total width that you want to remove.  ie: if you want to take in the anorak two inches, sew the parallel seam 1″ from the existing seam.

Then repeat on the other side.

However, if you wish to make the waist smaller than the chest, which it sounds like you do, push in the down as described above, starting where you want the taper to start, down to the bottom with enough “taken in” and repeat on the other side.

Hope that’s clear as mud (I’m wordy).  Please let us know how it goes!

[Jay L]

Todd Harpers method is how I would have thought to do it too.  The Borah has a drawstring at the bottom hem that complicates that approach.

You might contact Borah and ask them about modifying it.  I got their pull-over last spring and right away decided I didnt like the torso length – it hit just above my belt line and kept riding up.  I asked if they could lengthen it by a few inches (1 baffle) – no problem.  It took a couple of weeks but only cost about $20 including shipping both ways.

[Jennifer Mitol]

I did think about sending it back to Borah and I’m sure they’d do it (I had it made with some custom changes anyway)…but I was also thinking about Todd’s method above and thought that SHOULD be awfully easy, right????

The way the baffles are it should be quite easy to simply move the down out of the way then do a bit of fold – starting a few inches above the bottom hem (which is quite long on me and I LOVE it) to keep enough room for my lady-like hips…then take in the sides a bit.

I may find a throw-away clothing item in my drawer and practice.  Thanks!

[Jordo _99]

I don’t know what kind of patterns Borah uses but I’d imagine my technique will still work well…here’s how I did mine:

1. Turn it inside out and examine where all the seams run.
2. Buy at 20+ of these clips (they’re cheap)
3. Put on the jacket and start putting the clips onto the seams
4. Start pushing the clips farther over the seams (which pulls in the jacket a bit) until you’re happy with the fit.
5. Take off the jacket and start marking both panels where the clips were pinning it down.

Depending on how tight of a fit you’re going for, the clips may slide around when you take off the jacket…keep in mind that’s an indication the jacket would be too tightly fitted as the seams would be stressed each time you wear/remove the jacket.

Hope this helps!

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