I just need to commemorate this achievement.
My tailcoat was given to me four years ago by Ocean, who said, “But it has seen better days.” It wasn’t an exaggeration, so I put it away very carefully and hoped that, one day, I’d figure out a way of restoring it.
Anyway, finally got around to it this weekend. I feel ridiculously proud of myself, but then, it does look fabulous.
Battle strategy:
- took out raggedy old lining
- sewed up all holes
- took out sleeve linings and washed & ironed them
- took sleeves in (and put the lining back in)
- replaced all buttons
- added new lining
I did like the old buttons but several of them were missing, and they didn’t have shanks, which made them liable to ping off at any minute. The shiny new buttons were, in fact, the most expensive thing among the materials I had to buy (buttons, lining, heavy duty cotton thread). Damn those shiny new buttons.
It’s a beautiful old coat; it seems to have been entirely handmade. There are pockets in the tails. This does not seem very practical to me. Especially as I need to practise flipping the tails as I sit down in that BBC costume drama-y way.
This morning’s Torygraph had an article on “fashion for the thinking woman”. Thinking woman, huh? Fancy that. I’m sure whoever came up with that headline felt very proud of themselves for presenting the enlightened view that feminism & fashion aren’t mutually exclusive. Women can be interested in fashion AND think, you know. They can think about clothes!
