Or so a chalk written question on a blackboard outside a hairdressers' asked all who passed its premises. My colour says I am going grey, and recently my hairdresser broached the subject.
HD: Now I see we are getting a little salt in there with the pepper, would you like to talk colour possibilites?
Me: You know, Dutch painters used to paint still-lifes with decaying fruit and bones to remind us that we are all going to die. Let's call my grey my little piece of "memento mori."
HD: (pause) aah that would be a "no" then?
I went looking for fabric for my pants and came back with this instead.
I fell in love with the sky blue with gold glitter. As soon as I saw it I thought, "wow, that's real Queen Mother material." And then I thought about it a bit more and thought, "no, hey, it's more Camilla Parka Bowles."
I've always been meaning to get back to this pattern BWOF 03-2009-115. I've been thinking recently it's really a good idea to make Burda patterns more than once - the first time most of your time is spent tracing and trying to figure out the instructions - second time is a breeze and you can fix all those annoying first time round mistakes.
So what does this colour say about me? It says I am a fabric magpie who can't resist a bit of glitter; it says for some inexplicable reason I am drawn to dress like an old lady; it says my sense of humour finds its way into everything I do and everything I wear.
Costings: fabric $12 (Nick's) Interfacing $10, thread $4.50, elastic 50 c (only used a tiny bit) retro buttons 4 for $2 (Salvage). = $29.00
I'm sorry that the sun has bleached out the fabulous glitter quality to this coat and you can't see many of the details, which is a pity, but we have to take our child free photo opportunities when we have them.
Look at that great 70's collar
And from the back, I inserted elastic to pull in the back waist fullness rather than make the belt.
Hopefully you can make out the pockets in this photo, as they are a central design feature to this coat.
Here are the vintage buttons and you can see a better representation of the colour of this coat.
The technical drawing, courtesy of Burda:
Really cute coat! Now you just need to add that hat thing like Camilla! I never really did understand what that thing was.
ReplyDeleteI have decided I want to make a rain coat as soon as Amy Butler's new laminated cotton is released. I think I will go through the BWOF magazines I have to start deciding upon a pattern!
Somehow the sun-washed photos just suit the whole look perfectly.
ReplyDeleteNow, I know I always say how nice your things are, but this one surpasses nice in every way. I. LOVE. IT.
Do you know what my colour says about me? "This person likes blue".
Ooooh, you look fab! There's nothing old-lady about it! You're shimmering and glittering like a Twilight vampire in the sun!
ReplyDeleteIn the last six months I've suddenly gotten DOZENS of greys. Well WHITES actually. Pigment-free, some of them sticking straight up. It looks like I'm sprouting optical fibres under the strong bathroom light. I'm definitely keeping them, they're sort of fascinating.
Hey, I like those pockets. You really know how to turn out some groovy coats, don't you. I'm too scared to sew coats. Speaking of royals, an older sewing friend came to visit and reported that she had attended a lunch function with the Queen...and she noticed that the Queen's hem was taped into place. Now I'm guessing that you would not step out with a taped hem...you dress so much better than Royalty, even if you do have similar penchants for fabric!
ReplyDeleteLove it! The fabric is stunning and is definitely not old lady, particularly when made into such a fabulous coat.
ReplyDeleteNice coat! You are so fast, and your clothes turn out so beautifully, even the ones you don't wear. I like the feature in your sidebar with the list of what you've sewn, color-coded by love level and with cost. I bet that will make a great Excel worksheet/ pie chart someday. ;)
ReplyDeleteNow I am wondering if my attraction to the photograph of your perfect topstitching says something about me. - Particuarly when the whole coat looks so good.
ReplyDeleteI just noticed your colorful tally in the sidebar. You're both funny AND analytical!
ReplyDeleteLove it :-) Good to hear that there are still some bargains to be had at Nick's, even with all that delicious silk shipped off to Global Fabrics.
ReplyDeleteJ