I love this cotton coat with its quilted black and white polka dot lining. It's a Marcy Tilton design, Vogue 8934. Because it is cotton, I don't usually wear it in deep winter but I reach for it during early spring or late fall. So I was dismayed when I could not put my hands on it one day when I was reaching for it.
I checked in with a couple of my kids that I have to travel to visit. The picture above was taken at the MFA in Boston while visiting my son and his family. No one has seen it.
So I decided that only thing to do was to clean closets. Surely if I systematically clean each and every closet - poof - my sweet coat will appear. And I have way too much stuff that does not get used, so this was a good opportunity to give/throw things away, Marie Kondo style, something I've needed to do for a while.
The 4th closet I cleaned was my sewing closet. It exploded, leaving an embarrassing trail through 2 bedrooms and a sitting room. After much sorting, I identified some that I thought ASG would like to include in their annual sale. It's one of those sales where I always hope my donations > my purchases.
I am not finished with the cleaning-sorting-organizing-purging tear, but I'm starting to sew again. Perhaps because of the chilling effect of cleaning out too much junk, I have not wanted to make anything from scratch. So I've been mending and modifying.
First up is stafford jacket from the Sewing Workshop, of course. Theirs includes 3/4 length sleeves and is much, much shorter than mine. Initially mine looked like this:
I have not worn it much and wondered if I'd like it better with buttons down the front. I think I do.
Then I took a look at another seldom-worn item, a Tabula Rasa (Fit for Art) vest from some really nice wool. I remember fretting over the collar band when I made it. I finished it with some coordinating linen and some stencil prints. I also added a little sashiko.
The stenciling just never suited me much. So I removed the linen band and replaced it with dark brown corduroy. It is nice to have a stash of remnants for little projects like this one. I made add a little sashiko to this one too.
As I was giving it a good press, I detected a tiny hole. Of course, I had the remnants from this project, but felt like I was taking 2 steps forward, and 3 steps back.
After taking a little break, I was ready to add a pocket. Truth-be-told, it was fun. First I cut a piece of tissue for a basic patch pocket. Then I traced primary threads from the plaid onto pattern tissue:
This made it easy to cut my pocket so as to match the plaid. I lined it with a scrap of Bemberg Ambiance lining material, cutting the lining just a little smaller than the pocket.
I'm pleased with the result.
Lastly I added a fun little pocket to one of my all-time favorite little jackets. I made it in 2013 from a Paco Peralta pattern that I ordered directly from him, may he rest in peace. It's called the coolie jacket. inside of my old (2013) Paco Peralta jacket. The jacket has side seam pockets but they are just too shallow for anything. I also mended some seams. So satisfying!
Meanwhile, I'm back to making some rope baskets. Zen sewing, for sure.
But I still haven't located that black and white coat. I hope it turns up some day!
