How to Make Your Own Tuxedo
Tuxedos are the most formal style of men’s wear. They’re also a challenging sewing project, suitable for ambitious hobbyists with some previous experience under their belt. You may be able to save money by sewing your own tuxedo, but tuxedos do require a lot of supplies. Budget for everything you need before taking on the project, and enjoy making your own formal wear! Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Patterns
- Black Fabric
- Matching Thread
- Buttons
- Zipper
- Interfacing
- Scissors
- Straight Pins
- Iron
- Ironing Board
- Sewing Machine
Instructions
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Choose a pattern, or patterns, for the tuxedo. You may need to look in the upscale catalogs at the fabric store, or search online. You might find all the pieces you need for the tuxedo in one pattern, or you may need to buy several patterns to get all the pieces for the suit jacket, pants, shirt, vest, cummerbund, and tie. You might also want to mix and match patterns for the various pieces to get the styles you like.
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Buy fabric for the outside of the tuxedo, using the guidelines on the pattern envelope. Most tuxedo jackets and pants are made from wool, gabardine or other suiting fabrics. Cotton, polyester blends and linen work well for men’s shirts. Satin, silk, jacquard and gabardine are appropriate fabrics for vests, cummerbunds and ties.
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Obtain fabric for the lining of the jacket, pants and vest if needed. Most lining fabrics are polyester or satin, but you may need stiffer fabrics for some parts of the suit lining. Avoid very cheap, flimsy lining fabrics such as acetate.
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Buy matching thread, interfacing, buttons, a pants zipper and felt for the collar lining.
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Cut out the patterns for tuxedo using the cutting line for the size you need.
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Smooth out any wrinkles in the patterns. You may want to gently press them with a very low-temperature iron to make the patterns as accurate as possible.
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Pin the patterns to the fabric and cut out the pieces according to your pattern directions. If you’re cutting out a lot of pattern pieces at once, you may want to leave the patterns pinned to the fabric until you’re ready to sew them. .
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Sew it all together. Follow the pattern directions to sew each piece of the tuxedo. You may want to complete one item of the tuxedo before starting the next one, working from hardest (the suit jacket) to easiest (the vest or cummerbund and tie). This will help the stress ease as you progress on your project.
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Tips & Warnings
Take your time to make sure you pick out the perfect tuxedo patterns for your own style.
Use caution when working with scissors, pins, irons and sewing machines. Attempt sewing projects appropriate for your skill level.
