Hey guys,
I’ve recently bought a new suit (my first) for a formal event coming soon (Bar III extra slim from Macy’s, if you’re wondering). I’ve been reading up on suits for the past couple of weeks, and I know I can cut the threads in the suit jacket pockets. I’m planning on cutting the threads on the breast pocket (and not the side pockets), but I don’t know How to cut them. I’m alsoworried that once I cut them, the pocket will sag. Has anyone here got any experience in this?
Thanks.
newkid
An ordinary pair of scissors will do just fine. Use a blunt-nosed pair. You only need to cut the white thread once then gently pull the pocket open.
The pocket won’t sag if you don’t over-burden it.
The pockets are sewn shut so that they are not stretched out before you purchase the garment, by everybody who tries it on and, first thing, jams their hands into the pockets. So they won’t sag just because you remove the stitching, don’t worry.
As its put in with the intention for it to be removed later, we’d stitches are used make removal easy for you. If you’re not comfortable doing it, ask a home sewer to do it for you. Mom? Sister? Girlfriend?
Failing that, you need only snip a single stitch, for it to all come out with ease. (Pull on the stitching, from each side, just enough for you to see you are cutting only the thread, not the fabric!) Once it’s begun its quite easy, truly. Once started it, you can just use a pin to pick out the stitches, carefully, one at a time.
I never cut mine. Whenever I’m at a formal event there is a moment when I’m leaving the car and my wife will ask me to load the contents of her purse into my pockets because her bag doesn’t match her outfit. If other women see her do this I become a walking storage locker. It’s uncomfortable, it looks like I don’t know how to dress myself, I have to abandon my jacket on the back of a chair somewhere, and having dozens of hands pawing through 30lbs of junk all night long ruins the jacket.
I’d rather say “gosh, I’d love to help, but I don’t have pockets either” and follow the same trajectory with spilled drinks and improper dancing.
Psst…
NOT removing the pocket stitching, or the stitch tacking the back vent shut, is on par with NOT removing the protective film on your electronics, yknow, to ‘preserve’ them.
Don’t do it! No one will say anything, but everyone who knows better, will be embarrassed for you. You will give the impression that you’re a country hick who doesn’t know how to wear clothing more complicated than overalls!
It’s like being at a formal event with someone wearing their cummerbund upside down. No one will point and laugh, but plenty will smile knowingly and remark out of earshot. (And when someone eventually and delicately says something, the true rube will respond, “Yeah? Well I don’t give a f***!”)
Don’t be that person!
Friends don’t let friends walk around with stitched up pockets!
Thanks for the insight guys, I really appreciate it. I’ll try to cut the threads when I get the chance to!
I use a sharp pocketknife. I gently tug the pocket open far enough to see the threads, then carefully insert the knife and cut the thread in one place. Then i gently tug the pocket open. If the thread sticks at all, i cut it again so i don’t have to tug hard.
Easy peasy. Take it slow.
How would you tell, at least on the lower ones that have flaps? I can see unstitching the chest pocket, but unless you plan on actually using the lower ones, wouldn’t it tend to lie better with them staying sewn shut? I’d think of all the things you could leave stitched to good effect, the lower pockets would be the ones to consider.
And for all that’s holy, take that damn tag off the cuff! I’ve seen way, way too many knuckleheads going around with the cuff-tag still sewn on.
They’re stitched in such a way that you can just pull the pocket open with minor resistance. I think they stitch them with an unthreaded bobbin for this very reason, as in the thread loops into the two sheets of cloth without a second thread holding that loop into place. Yank away!
Disagree on the pockets, personally I never unstitch the side pockets, (I’m never going to keep anything in them - that’s what the inner pockets or your trousers are for IMO). I rarely unstitch the breast one either, but 99% of my suit wear is regular day wear business suits, so I’m not needing a pocket square in there or anything. I agree with bump, how would anyone tell if your suit pockets are still stitched up anyway?
However I will wholeheartedly agree to make sure you pull out the stitches in the rear vent. If you’re new to suits you mightn’t be aware that you need to pull those ones out.
I want to make another observation… why aren’t the people doing the alterations to suits also taking out all the pocket and vent stitching?
Please don’t tell me you’re buying suits off the rack and just wearing them like that!
Also, make sure you take the label off that is stitched onto the suit sleeve. It’s not meant tostay there.
Some places that alter the suits don’t remove the pocket stitching. Not sure why. I suppose we could ask them to. I agree, they should, but maybe they know that some people prefer their pockets permanently sealed.
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Remove the stitching from the vents in the back of the jacket, too, as well as the breast pocket (who doesn’t use pocket squares??). I also like to cut the buttonhole in the lapel so I can stick the occasional flower in there.
At the risk of being whooshed, Me. Been in Commercial banking for over 20 years in Australia & London, I could count on one hand the number of people I’ve seen wearing a pocket square. In fact I’d think you were either a tryhard hipster or a pretentious wanker 
Not a whoosh, pocket squares have been back in style for a while now. I think they make a suit look great. Not necessarily a flashy polka dotted square with a fancy shape, just a white one squared off above the pocket can do wonders for breaking up the large expanse of dark suit fabric, even in a conservative business setting.
But my comment was slightly exaggerated, I know pocket squares are neither necessary nor universal. I’m just a proponent of them.
I came here to say this. Leaving that label on the sleeve is just ridiculous!
Also one of my biggest pet peeves is people who leave the tack on the back kick-pleat or vent. How can you go through your whole life and not know you are supposed to snip the tack? I take the Metro to work every day and like 40% of people I see still have the temporary tack in the pleat or vent of their jacket or skirt. I am just like whaaaaaaa???
:eek: Who told you that?! Probably the same person who said you could cut the tags off your pillows and mattresses!
You’ve been warned.
