Thursday 6 February 2014

PIMP MY JACKET


 I fixed up an old winter jacket of mine!

Or, old and old, it has indeed been waiting in my closet for quite some years, but I never really properly used it . It's is plain black duffel I got on sale with the intention to fix up with a faux fur trim as I couldn't find such a jacket anywhere at the time. I also got it a little too big in order to fit an extra lining; it was when we had a second very cold winter and I wanted it to be super warm. Well, I did do all of that, but I can tell you that extra fleece lining of mine didn't turn out that well as I in my usual matter just cut a little like this and that trying my luck... the arms got all twisted and weird. And getting the big shawl-like collar I wanted to stay in place around the original collar was harder than I thought. So I used it perhaps once or twice and then hid it out of sight and out of mind trying not to think of all the work and money my little idea had cost me.

The next winter all stores were of course full of jackets with furry collars and cuffs.

But, I decided to fix it up now instead of it collecting dust in the closet!  With a thinner, easier fabric instead than the thick fluffy fur I used the last time. And in leopard, which is better anyway. Aaand forget about any extra lingins, jeez, I have big knits to do the trick. (And I think the super-cold is over for this winter now -fingers crossed).

Adding cuffs to clothing is pretty easy. Just measure the sleeve hole and add a cm or two for the seam. I want a lot of warming soft cuff on the inside of my sleeve too, so I make it rather long and then fold it over the sleeve. I fold it twice, so that it is double in the front. I sew the cuff in place by hand.

The collar is a little trickier, but this time around I made it smaller than I had tried on the first round, and did it with a little more preparations. I traced the original collar and then sew my pieces together to fit like a pocket or bag around it. I sew it in place with tiny stitches by hand.


Done!

The material was a bout ten euros and it took me an hour or so to get the work done. So it sort of feels like I got a new winter jacket almost for free, as I can pretend that 2010-thing never happened.


6 comments:

Andrea said...

So cute! That came out fantastic!

Polly said...

It looks great! I especially like the collar.

Vanessa said...

So cute and super creative! Well done x

Maureen said...

\A good job, looks cool - or do I mean warm?

Sarah said...

It looks fantastic, you did such a great job!

Porcelina said...

A really clever idea to give an old coat a new lease of life, I'm impressed with your creativity! P x