How To Spot Quality and Cut In A Blazer

Shoulder sleeve join on Pink cape blazer by label PRETTY LITTLE THING.



Burgundy blazer (looks more like fuscia on my screen).

Burgundy hat and burgundy cape blazer showing sleeve cut and sewing. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The label has been cutcut. Good quality garment with lining. It has two buttons with buttonholes, and two buttons without buttonholes creating an invisible square pattern.
I bought the hat separately.

This picture taken from a video shows the burgundy colour better, as well as the length of the coat and how the shoulders hang reasonably well despite the T shape seam.

I have bought several cape blazers.

I am buying and evaluating on:
Price
Cut
Colour
Lining

1 Cream short jacket from Mango.  Bought in Madeira in the sale. Reduced from about  55 Euros to 45 euros, about £37 but still expensive.
Looks elegant.
I hunted for the black one not stocked in Madeira. London had it in the sale, but deaerer than in Madeira, about another fiver or seven pounds. I decided to look on line.

2 Short black jacket. Cheap. About £20.
T-shape shoulder seam. I was shocked when I compared it to my other jackets and even cheap shirts.

3 Long navy jacket. Long. Creased but that doesn't notice so much on dark colour.

4 Short pink jacket in the sale. Same brand as the short black one, but in the sale only £10. At that price I was willing to overlook the strange shoulder seam.

5 Long burgundy jacket. Second hand.

Also black short jacket with red embroidery, flying in from China.

What was the difference between the dearer Mango item and the cheap one from China? The Mango item was lined. (So now I sometimes hunt for 'lined cape blazer'.) I was shocked to see that whilst my Mango jacket had a curved line where the sleeve fitted into the shoulder, the cheaper item had a T shape.

I didn't know whether it was oddly cut, or quickly-sewn. I thought, a five-year-old could cut that and sew that, just a straight line. I could do that. But I wouldn't dream of selling it. Don't they have a quality checker?

The fact that my shoulder are not exactly the same, one higher than the other (because of a broken collarbone in a major car accident) means that little points sticking out of both shoulder, at different levels, looks really odd.

I looked in the mirror to see what it looked like on. I had little points sticking up. I tried pushing in the points. I considered sewing them down from the inside.

Even so, I saw another item in the same style from the China manufacturer. This time it was half price, and I was prepared to have the funny shoulders in exchange for getting the colour I wanted and the cheap price.

I wear my cheaper jackets in the daytime, the dearer ones on special occasions. But even in the daytime, when I think I am not at my best, I get compliments. An African lady at the pedestrian crossing said to me, regarding the burgundy jacket over a refersible plum and pink dress: "Lovely outfit. So colourful!"

If you look at the shoulders of different garments - especially cape blazers, you may find a difference.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phtographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.