How to Remove a Duffel Coat Hood

Hold the body of the coat with one hand and the hood with the other. Carefully examine the place where the hood and the coat meet at the front edge of the hood to identify the seam that holds the two together. Tug gently on the hood and expose the stitching of the seam.

After locating the seam, take the seam ripper in one hand and put the coat across your lap with the hood seam in the center. Pull the hood firmly to locate the seam and hook the point of the seam ripper under a single thread from the seam. Slide the seam ripper against the thread to cut it. You can start anywhere along the seam if it is difficult to find a thread at the front of the hood. The front is often reinforced with extra stitching, making it difficult to take out.

After cutting a thread, pull up on the hood and down on the coat next to the place where you cut a thread to see if any other stitches will undo on their own. After pulling the two pieces apart as much as possible, find another thread or two and hook the point of the seam ripper under the threads, then cut the threads.

Repeat Step 3 until you have removed all the stitches holding the hood onto the coat. Use extra care in areas where the stitching is reinforced, hooking only one or two stitches at a time. Don't rush the process. Put the hood and the seam ripper aside.

Clean off the seam area by picking out all of the cut threads by hand.

Tuck the raw edges of where the hood used to be into the coat so that there is a smooth edge on top of the coat. Pin the edge into place with straight sewing pins.

Stitch a seam around the entire collar of the coat, using a sewing machine threaded with matching thread. Clip threads close to the coat.