You’ve voted for your favorite men’s suit transformation, and now it’s time for us to reveal the Threads Digital Ambassadors Upcycle Challenge winner. The winning entry is a classic: It’s the 1940s women’s suit created by Digital Ambassador Peter Lappin.
Stylish winning transformation
Peter turned a men’s size 44 Regular wool flannel men’s suit into the elegant two-piece suit.
He started with a vintage Advance pattern and made multiple design changes to the jacket and skirt, in part to work around the fabric limitations. He had serious competition from fellow Threads Digital Ambassadors Becky Fulgoni and Pamela Howard.
“It was terrific fun,” Peter says of the challenge. “When I’m competing against others, it propels me to push a little harder. It was truly a privilege to compete with Becky and Pam. They did a wonderful job.”
Top-notch competitors
Becky turned her pre-owned men’s suit into business overalls and complementary dolman-sleeve short jacket. She designed and sewed her upcycled outfit using a learned free-form approach she refers to as “do the part you know.”
Pamela bumped the challenge up a notch for herself when she chose to make a four-piece mix-and-match ensemble, with a sleeveless jacket and skirt as the foundation. She created the jacket and skirt from a more-than-ample men’s suit consisting of a size 56 jacket and size 54 trousers.
Besides winning bragging rights, Peter gets to bask in the glow of compliments. “You have made something that would have been gorgeous on a Hollywood star of the ’40s—or on my mom,” one fan commented. “Elegant, flattering, and timeless.”
The challenge winner shares his thought process, method, and even a few lessons he learned during the suit construction in his post, “Men’s Suit Repurposing Project: Creating a 1940s Women’s Suit.”
You can see how Becky went about the project here.
And read Pamela’s detailed account of how she repurposed her suit here.
Giveaway prize
Threads audience members who voted for their favorite transformation were entered into a drawing for a prize package valued at more than $500 from Threads and the challenge sponsors:
- $100 gift card from Gorgeous Fabrics
- Velocity 230IR Compact Vapor Generator Iron from Reliable Corporation
- One-year subscription to the University of Fashion
- Three popular instructional guides from The Taunton Press (parent company of Threads): All New Fabric Savvy (2017) by Sandra Betzina; Kenneth D. King’s Smart Fitting Solutions (2018); Sewing Essentials: Serger Techniques (2015) by Pamela Leggett.
The drawing winner has been notified.
Photos of transformed suits by Mike Yamin.
A worthy winner!