The Refashioned $3 Thrifted Jacket

(originally published November 12, 2008)

It's about time, right? About six months ago, I picked up this cute, cropped jacket for $3. Yes, that's right, THREE DOLLARS.

I loved the color and the woven houndstooth design - it's fully lined as well. I didn't like the buttons; they were covered in the same material with a goldish rim around the edge.

And it looks like there might have been a belt at one time, because there are little loops about 5" up from the bottom.

As soon as I saw it, I knew what I wanted to do.

I thought the houndstooth pattern would look fun if it were appliqued with a big, bold floral pattern - and Heather Bailey's new Pop Garden was perfect, the hardest part was deciding on the colorway.

Since I was going to be cutting out the flowers, I really wanted a strong *pop*. This was a little too dark.

This was a little too bright for me.

Ah, this was just right!

I decided to start with the back, and I cut out the big floral bunch in a rectangle so there was extra fabric around the bunch of flowers. I cut and ironed the same size of Stitch Witchery (double-sided) interfacing to the piece of fabric, and then cut out the floral bouquet I wanted to use.

I positioned it on the back of my jacket, pinned it, pressed it,

and then sewed it on just using a straight stitch (wrangling all those turns!).

The front needed some color as well, so I did the same with the smaller flowers in the fabric pattern:

Now, I could turn my attention to the button situation.

After going through my stash of vintage buttons, I decided some of the beautiful rhinestone buttons I had been hoarding for years would be put to good use here.

At this point, I decided to make things complicated for myself. I thought the centers of those gorgeous flowers would look extra sparkly if they were beaded. So, with no beading experience, and a complete disdain for handsewing, I decided to add little *pops* of beading...ugh.

It does look cute - it was a good idea. HOWEVER, sewing beads onto fabric that has already been interfaced and then sewn to an already heavy piece of fabric (a woven with a lining) proved very difficult.

If you think you'll want to add beading to a project, try to do it while the piece is still raw. I beaded all the flowers on the front, and just a few on the back before I ran out of patience.

But still, I'm pretty happy with the end result!

After all, it was just a $3 jacket. *wink*