The Tuxedo part one

It was not the typical Boy Meets Girl story.  In fact Boy, our son Kyle, met Girl, Nimela, in high school and they were part of a larger group of friends for several years.  By all indications, Nimela found Kyle more annoying than anything else during those years.  Of course, a person who can go from being sound asleep in Chemistry class to waking up and correctly answering a question has a tendency to annoy their fellow students.  Fast forward, Kyle leaves the University of Florida and joins the Army.  Along the way, our family noticed that Nimela was occupying a larger and larger spot in his life but Kyle kept insisting they were just friends.  We started calling her NTG (Not The Girlfriend).  Finally, after he finished infantry training, they became official.  

That was almost two years ago.  Last July 4th holiday, he proposed to her and we started planning another wedding.  (Engagement picture above is courtesy of our daughter Sarah). I am making the wedding gown and will write about that after the big event since Nimela wants to keep Kyle in the dark about the details. 

However, the amount of time and effort that is going into the wedding gown is greatly overshadowed by The Tuxedo (it deserves to be capitalized).  Due to Kyle's body shape (large shoulders, barrel chest, small waist, big thighs) renting a tuxedo was out of the question.  I suggested buying one that I could alter for him.  He suggested that a loving mother with some degree of sewing skills could make him a tuxedo.  Oh, and it should be midnight blue and should look like the tuxedo from Skyfall (I don't think he plans on using a gun as an accessory on the big day). 

Did I mention in the previous post I am a mother that tries to help my children achieve their dreams?  Did I mention that I have never made a man's suit before?  I probably don't need to mention that I am a complete sucker for requests from my children.  

So I am making a tuxedo.  I started by reading everything I could find on the internet regarding tailoring.  Sewing and tailoring are not the same thing.  I am now well versed on the differences and have discovered that it does not make for scintillating dinner-party conversation with non-sewists.  I have positively stalked Jeffrey Diduch's blog Made by Hand  reading the entire history twice and getting unduly excited over new posts. I admit I was completely daunted by the craftsmanship of these items and overwhelmed by welt pockets (actually cutting into the jacket front for a pocket?  Inconceivable).   I also researched the Skyfall tuxedo and again became well-versed in a topic that most people I come in contact with find excruciatingly dull.   

I studied and planned and thereby avoided cutting and sewing as long as possible, but there comes a point when you just have to leap and hope for the best. So in late September I actually started working on the beast.  First order of business was to make a dress form for Kyle.  I have an adjustable form (Mildred) that is being used for the bridal gown (and has the wrong shape any way) so I padded out a form that Sarah made years ago to an approximation of Kyle's size.  I named it Johnny (that was the real Mildred's husband's name).  I then cut muslin for the first attempt and when that worked well, I used a stronger black fabric for the practice jacket that would make its way with Nimela to Ft. Bragg in October for the first fitting (and measuring of Kyle since I didn't actually have his measurements at this point and he refused to ask his fellow soldiers with the 82nd Airborne to assist him in obtaining measurements for me).   

Sarah met Nimela at Ft. Bragg to take the engagement pictures (taking engagement pictures is actually one of Sarah's things, link to her website http://www.slowvannah.com/home.html) and assisted with the fitting with me directing everything via Skype.  Overall, the fit was in the ballpark and Nimela returned with the marked up items and a set of measurements.  Since Kyle's December visit might be my last chance for a final fitting with him before the May wedding, I was starting to feel a bit of a time crunch and spent many sleepless hours worrying:  How exactly is a welt pocket constructed?  How am I going to do the waist suppression needed from Kyle's shoulders to his waist and also accommodate his rather large rear-end at the same time?  Am I ever going to lose those 15 pounds I have been trying to get rid of for years (this last one shows up no matter what the night's overall topic of worry is).  

I did manage the waist suppression (took a couple of tries) and proclaimed victory over the welt pocket  -- but not the weight loss.  Details of the next phases of The Tuxedo will follow in another post.  Pictures of first steps below:

Johnny wearing one of Kyle's T-shirts

First muslin

Practice jacket