On the Upcycle

 I have been wearing a gorgeous cozy coat all winter and also for some of the recent British weather too! Ah to live in the grey and mild of England...  

Here she is! I found her in a charity shop for £15, (new with tags on). It looked like the left image when I picked it up in the shop. It is a grey over-sized blazer that hits just above the knee. It looks like one might have stolen a man's jacket, but the fit falls in all the right places. Now after some TLC, she is looking mighty fine! It's amazing how some new buttons with a hint of colour lifts the overall design, whilst adding a touch of vintage styling. The size label said size 16, I'm a 10/12 but I'm rocking it- who's to know when it fits so good?

As you can see on the above image on the left, the coat had a massive fabric label on the center back. I found it to be very ugly, and wanted something a bit more unique when I drape my coat on the back of a chair. I unpicked the label and pinned my own name label onto the space that was left. 

A little disclaimer: I do not think I'm the best of British at anything! I just had the ribbon knocking around and the colours and typeface looked really good with the name label.  

So after I had stitched on the labels, I needed to fill some space above. Using lace and blue and red thread, I created an applique embellishment above the two labels. 

Here is the finished label! It looks a little less boring draped over the back of a chair, and it has my name on it too! 

Next, I replaced the buttons. The old ones look plastic and cheap to me, and I wanted to change them as soon as I bought the coat.

A close up of the old buttons don't really do justice of how plastic these look in real life. 

Below I am switching the buttons, if you are going to go plastic, go fantastically plastic!  The red square-stamped buttons are more individual and give a real fifties vibe to the whole coat. 

I also did the cuffs in a smaller button that matched in colour to complete the look. 

Sometimes when thrifting, one has to see potential in a garment and with a little time and effort, you can achieve fashion greatness!

Stay unfashionable,
love Elodie x