Aunt Emily

Emily Bowyer Hammel was my father's older sister. She was the dearest person I've ever known. Over several adolescent summers, she patiently taught me how to sew and how to cook. I loved her. Sadly, she has been gone these few years and I miss her very much. However, I am carrying on her legacy of sewing and trying to carry on her legacy of caring.

Sunday, March 9

Wardrobe Refashion Project -ADVICE NEEDED

I NEED YOUR COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS!!!

For Wardrobe Refashion, I need your suggestions as to what I can do with these two trench coats.


I've had these two coats since about 1990. I got them from Spiegel and they are still in fine shape. Having had them for so long, I would like to refashion them in some way to freshen them up and make them more interesting.
Cream Coat: As you can imagine, this coat gets worn perhaps once or twice, and then its back to the cleaners. I love the cream color, but am sick of the limited use. I don't really know much about dying, but that might be a possibility. I would probably need to have it commercially dyed, and that might be a barrier. OR . . . add a border from a patterned fabric? SUGGESTIONS?
Green Coat: I've called this my World War One trench coat since I got it. It gets more wear as it is darker. But, again, it could use some freshening. I am wondering about adding embrodiery or perhaps a trim of some sort. Or could this be dyed? SUGGESTIONS????

4 comments:

Sandi said...

depending on if you can sew, i would cut one of them off into a safari type jacket. let me know what you end up doing.

Linda said...

I have to agree with the previous poster. Safari type jackets would be a good idea. It would be better if we could see them on you. I noticed that on PR you model the clothes, but on your blog you don't show your creations modeled. I was just curious as to why you like to do it that way.

Sally said...

Hi Linda:

I do post with me wearing. You just happened across the photos from the big snow weekend. I posted the photos on hangers because - I was in my nightgown all day Friday and Saturday, sewing! Never got dressed either day. So I didn't want to take a photo of me until after I hit the shower on Sunday! Just one of those things!

Moxie Tonic said...

My first thought was also to shorten the coats. Maybe make the tie belts in an vibrant fabric like an animal print. I would also change out the buttons; vintage would be cool, but there are usually some pretty nice ones to choose from new as well.