Tuesday, January 22, 2008

It Pays to be Insane

Yep.

It pays off BIG time!!!!!


And sometimes all it takes is to have no shame. Perhaps this took a bit of both.

Thank you Franklin.

Thank you Dolores.

I knew all this lushness was on it's way for a while now. I got a post card from UPS last Thursday saying they couldn't find my house, but would hold the pkg for me until today. No problem except they were holding it in a town about 60 miles away....sigh I spoke to a lovely lady on the phone and they readily offered to deliver it today. Yippee Skippee! Around 3:00 the neighbor lady delivered it, UPS dropped it off at her house. Close enough I guess. :o) Thanxs to the powers that be she doesn't hate me that much, and she's not a knitterly type, otherwise it surely would have been lost.

Since Thursday I've been pattern searching for just the right thing. I haven't found it yet but I'm having a blast doing it! There is plenty of yardage here, 11 skeins/150yds dk wt. WOW

Hutzpuh

Yep, I've got it, enough of it at least to presume I can remake a Perry Ellis coat. :o)

Remember this coat?


Now it looks like this.


(sorry Susan I hope this doesn't hurt too much. BG)

Aside from chopping it off making it fingertip length, I also added some simple stitching. I thought it was just a little too blah and didn't think a mere button change would do the trick. Now I think it's fun and kicky.



I used blue, "steel blue" to be exact, (not baby blue like it looks in these pix) size 5 perle cotton for the stitching. I still want to change the buttons and have raided my vintage button jar and came up with a few possibilities. They each have their own pros and cons.

I like this one a lot but, it is slightly too big and I don't feel like redoing the buttonholes. BTW the color isn't as purple as the pic shows. It really is very close to the stitching in color. I just love the staggered brickwork pattern on the button and how it echoes the stitching.




I really love this button, sorry about the glare. The color is perfect and its just an awesome button, but its too fragile for a coat this heavy. The shanks are plastic and were glued on, to the button face, there is one face already missing it's shank....sigh.




This button is perfect colorwise too, but it is slightly too big and I'd have to do the resize the buttonhole thing. Plus it's a little too subtle, the color doesn't show this well unless you're really close to the button....yet another sigh.

I've considered making buttons. I'm not thrilled with the idea of crocheted buttons. I've been thinking about using a ring and working some needle lace to close up the center. I've done one so far.



Eh, not bad, but I'm concerned about the cotton fuzzing after a bit of use. I'm going to dunk it in some polyurethane, or perhaps paint it with some clear nail polish. Maybe that will work, maybe not. I wish I had some resin and a mold! :-) I'm in no hurry, the coat doesn't need buttons, it still has all the original buttons intact, I can't say that about very many of my other coats! LOL

The leather jacket is coming along nicely. I've re-configured the collar and now have to tackle the hem. Just a matter of getting around to it. I'll let you know when it's done.

On the knitting front, I did make a sweater with donegal tweed from a few posts back. More on that when I get the buttons sewn on, and the pattern written up. The sweater itself is a real no brainer perfect for lousy days spent with Mr. Migraine. I'm calling it "Dancing with the Devil" cuz its flirty and swingy and like I said, perfect for dancing days, no counting, no pattern checking, no seaming, ahhhhhhh.