Ladies' Jackets - Handstitched By Our Shanghai High-Fashion Tailor

At Balsam Custom Tailors, we employ only the most professional and skilled tailors and seamstresses. Most of our very talented team members have had many decades of experience in making custom garments and working for designer labels. 

The following are a collection of pictures that document some of the jackets in their in-progress stage and the finished stage. All of them are made by our Shanghai Master Tailor :)   Pay attention to the fine details in the shoulders, lapels, jetted flap pockets, contour seams in the back... all are things that help determine the quality of a jacket i.e. Springy shoulders require more work because of extra internal parts that are built-in to produce that effect.

Jacket No.1 - Leopard Print Cotton

Jacket No.2 - Padded Lace Material 

Jacket No.3 - Padded Lace Material

Creative Repair On A Down Puffer Jacket

If you have a puffer jacket (especially one made with down), you will know how annoying it is to get a rip in it. The outer nylon or polyester layer can't ever be mended in a way that it will become perfect again. You could try sewing up the rip but there will definitely be a seam.

I see cigarette burns and accidental tears in these jackets all the time. Down puffer jackets aren't cheap. A decent one will run you a minimum of $200. A really high quality one can cost as much as $1000 and up. Most people are reluctant to throw away a down jacket just because they put a rip in it They know that, beyond the aesthetic imperfection, it is still a very warm jacket that will do its work.

If you don't mind the visible seam that goes over the rip, especially if it's located in an inconspicuous place on the jacket, then simply sewing it up will work well.

But sometimes, a seam in somewhere obvious, say on the backside of your jacket, isn't very pretty. Look at the following picture of a very new puffer jacket. There's a big cut down the backside:

If we were to sew it up, there would be an obvious vertical seam down the backside of the jacket.

Our seamstress thought of a better idea. Instead of creating a seam that looks out of place, she decided to "blend" the repair into the background.

Putting a piece of triangular fabric to cover the lower half of the rip.

Pinning the triangle in place.

The extra fabric comes from the belt that came with the jacket.

What the seamstress has done is cut a couple pieces of triangular shapes from the original jacket belt and strategically sewed them right over on top of the damaged area.

The result: 

This $500 jacket is saved! Looks almost flawless, right? :)