Renovating an Old Work

I didn't photograph it when I made it, but photo evidence points to this bedspread having been made around 2014.  This photo was taken in 2019, when I was preparing to make a replacement because one of the fabrics--visible just behind Chip--was falling apart.

 

I then put the blanket and matching pillowcases in the linen closet, to be ignored.

I had the thought the other day that I could cut up the intact parts of the blanket to use to make another pullover dress...but...that didn't quite feel right.

So!

I ended up picking apart the damaged squares (a second one had started falling apart while in storage), removing the borders, and re-assembling everything into a new configuration.

It might go back into the linen closet, but at least it'll go in in better shape than it came out.

The Return of the Plaid

So!

I was extremely unhappy with the last two projects, and I think a lot of it had to do with the desire to go outside my usual fabric choices.

I still didn't want to default back to printed cottons, though, and decided to use some fabric I'd thrifted ages ago: a wool twill plaid in purples, with gray and white, bafflingly block fused with some super slippery synthetic tricot.

I knew I wanted to make a coat from it, and I knew the fact that the plaid was large meant I'd have to be cautious with fabric use, so none of my preferred princess seam, flared coat patterns would work.  I'd ordered a bunch of clearance patterns from the Simplicity site a while ago, including McCall's 7847 (image from the Simplicity site, where it's still available as a PDF as of this post)

It's a Learn to Sew pattern, meant for faux fur, but it had the simple construction I wanted, and I was confident it would work with this wool instead of faux fur. Even with the pattern matching (horizontal only), and adding way more interfacing than the pattern wanted, and adding welt pockets, it seemed like it should go together quickly.  And it did!  It's just that the work ended up being spread over nearly three weeks, because first there was PMS, which made me question the previous things I'd sewn and my ability to ever make anything good again, then there was my period, which destroyed motivation, and then I got sick (all in my tonsils), which also didn't do much for motivation.

Then I finally finished it and it was super disappointing as a coat

 but fantastic as a jacket.