Several people commented on the lack of fluffy collar on my daughter's pink coat, suggesting a removable collar, and Gail commented that the coat did not really look like a garment for a first year Uni student.
I agree, it needed a bit more fun, for when she wears it to Uni, rather than on her way to work or the hospital, so I did something about it.
It might not have shown in the photos, but the original collar, made from the Shetland Wool of the coat, was heavy, stiff, and messy looking, rather than delightfully deconstructed and shabby-chic in a Burdaesque manner, so I did not fuss with it again.
I perused my fabric collection for alternative ideas.
Nothing, because, I clearly do not have enough fabric ;)
I looked at my hideously large mending and refashioning pile, and stuck gold.
Do you remember this cardigan?
It did a marvellous job during an Easter in-law-visiting-trip in the Hunter Valley and Sydney, being tossed on over any old outfit from a fancy silk dress to jeans and t shirt, then scrunched up in a handbag when it got too hot.
Unfortunately, in my dedication to documenting my sewing, it was attacked by cobbler's pegs, and as I was away at the time, I did not mend the holes immediately.
Embroidering over the (cough) now quite large holes some weeks later with bullion roses somehow did not work, and I did not wear the cardigan again, finding it unappealing.
Cutting it up into strips was quite satisfying, and I managed to avoid the holes and embroidery. I pieced these strips together, abandoning my original idea of flat felled seams after the first piecing, and just overlapping the pieces, to make one 3m length and one 2m length.
These two strips were then gathered down the centre, and stabilized with a straight stitch over a strip of clear elastic, encased in the merino gauze knit (original front opening edges and neckline of the cardigan).
Don't you think it makes an excellent adornment to the coat?
I insisted on borrowing rights before I handed it over.
