reconstruction rebellion

For, like, months I've had this thrifted trenchcoat hanging on my mannequin in the dining room where I do my sewing. Or did my sewing half a year ago when I last sewed anything... Anyway, it was pretty ugly. It was straight out of the 80s, decorated with lots of buttons and pointless D-rings, and came down to mid-calf. I figured the semi-military details would be cute on a shorter coat, though, so my goal was to reconstruct it.

But it took me a long time to get around to it. I'm tempted to say I only finally did the reconstruction because I was looking for something - anything - to be doing that wasn't packing. Sad that I'm most creative when I'm procrastinating about something else.



This is probably the easiest darn reconstruction in the world, since you only really need to move two pieces of fabric and the fabric is nice and stiff and easy to keep lined up correctly. I did this:

1. Detached the side panels of the coat from the front and back panels.
2. Cut one side while the coat was on the dress form, using the pocket as a guide and cutting about three inches below it but not cutting through the pocket, k.
3. Used the side piece I just cut off as a pattern to cut off the same part of the opposite side.
4. Cut the pieces I removed roughly in half, discarding the thinner parts that were the top of the panels.
5. Pinned the shorter panels back on, pleating them to take up excess (since the panels get winder toward the bottom) and create a kind of ruffly effect.
6. Sewed those suckers on.
7. Cut off the front and back panels an inch lower than the hem of the new side panels.
8. Cut off the lining at approximately the same length as the front + back panels.
9. Reattached the side panels to the front + back panels.
10. Hemmed the front and back and the lining.

Tada! Here are some pictures of me being a ham in my newly flirty and relevant spring trenchcoat in the midst of all the stuff I need to pack by Friday.