How much to re-line a suit jacket?

pokey128

I want to get my OH's jacket lined with some snazzy material and I was wondering if anyone here could give me a really rough idea of how much this is likely to cost?

Cheers in advance!

ChocClare

Do you mean you are going to reline it or that you want to pay someone else?

Lining a jacket is a piece of cake - BUT it is like making a jacket inside out, so there is a certain amount of skill in cutting and setting in sleeves etc. and it's a bit fiddly.

If you want to do it yourself, you just need to remove the lining, lay it out flat and use it as a pattern for your new material. You may have to contend with such things as inside pockets.

If you want to pay someone else, then that will depend on so many different things - where you live, whether it is done by a seamstress or a shop that does alterations - even the dry cleaners! Also, whether you will provide the material or not - snazzy lining could be quite expensive just for the raw materials. Round our way it costs a tenner just to replace a skirt zip (mind you, I think that's a horrible job myself), so a whole jacket lining would have to be at least three or four times that, plus the materials, I would have thought. There is quite a bit of hand-sewing involved if you want it to look decent. As I say, though, it is NOT a difficult thing to do - might it be something you'd have a go at yourself?

Sorry to be so woolly but it is a bit of a how long is a piece of string question unfortunately!:o

charliee_3

my sister in law just had a coat jacket relined for £20 with a local seamstress if that helps... why not ring round a couple?

valk_scot

Cost of materials plus £10 per hour? I would probably take about 3-4 hours to do thus to a good standard, including hand finishing and I'm a good though non-pro seamstress. So I think if you get away with under £30 for work you'd be doing well.

C_Mababejive

Reminds me of a Jewish joke...

An elderly Jewish woman is leaving the garment district in NYC to go home from work. Suddenly a man who has been walking towards her, stands in front of her, blocks her path, opens up his raincoat and flashes her. Unruffled she takes a look and remarks, "You call that a lining?"

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

pokey128

Thanks everyone - I have been quoted £60 plus materials for it (In Edinburgh) -It include making 3 pockets (no idea how hard that is or any of it tbh!)
Couldn't do it myself - wouldn't even know where to start really despite all the advice above!
I thought it seemed quite expensive but they are supposed to be really good and its my OH work jacket so maybe I should pay for quality?! But £60!!

x

Olliebeak

I think you need to work out how much it would cost for a replacement jacket and THEN decide if £60+ is worth it for a 're-vamped but NOT NEW jacket'.

Although re-lining will give the jacket a new-lease of life, it won't do anything for the outward appearance of it.

valk_scot

pokey128 wrote: »

Thanks everyone - I have been quoted £60 plus materials for it (In Edinburgh) -It include making 3 pockets (no idea how hard that is or any of it tbh!)
Couldn't do it myself - wouldn't even know where to start really despite all the advice above!
I thought it seemed quite expensive but they are supposed to be really good and its my OH work jacket so maybe I should pay for quality?! But £60!!

x

Pockets would be at least another hour of two of work, tbh, especially if they're of the bound edge variety. I don't feel £60 is excessive for a tailored and finished lining, which is on the expert end of sewing repairs remember.

Think about it though. How much would a new jacket cost? How many years of life has the outer shell of the jacket got left in it? if it's a £300 jacket, has lasted two years and you feel it would last another two if relined then it's a bargain to get it relined. If it's a £100 jacket, has lasted two years and you think it would last another one if you relined it then it's not a good deal.

purpleivy

I did a reply yesterday and it got scoffed!

My feeling was that it isn't an easy job. Straight forward untill you have to start dealing with pockets. You have to unpick the whole thing first in order to make a pattern to use for the new lining.

Sewing is a skill and sometimes people forget that it takes experience to make a good job of something like this. It doesn't help that clothes are available so cheaply these days from some places. Good quality clothes are worth repairing.

There have been several threads over the last few months expressing horror at what people have been quoted for repairs, but like anything else you get what you pay for.

BTW, loved the joke!

Austin_Allegro

Remember that nobody sees the sleeve linings, so try asking for these in a cheaper material.

However, I would agree with other posters in that there's little point relining a jacket. I have done extensive repairs myself to jacket linings and have never needed to have professional relining done. Generally by the time this needs doing, the outer jacket is worn out anyway.

One trick I used is to take material from an unseen part of the jacket (eg, a pocket lining or sleeve lining if it is the same material) replace this with whatever I have in the scrap fabric basket, then use the matching pieces to patch over any visible areas of wear. You can do this very quickly using wundaweb. If that's too difficult you can just buy lining material in the nearest match or cut up an old jacket from a jumble sale (in a bigger size preferably to give a margin for error).