I inherited an absolutely stunning 1960’s brocade blanket from Great Aunt Uschi a couple of years ago & was terrified to chop it up…but inspiration struck hard and my refashionista wheels kicked into high gear so the scissors (along with some lovely vintage trim) met the fabric and I created a fabulous new coat!
Waddaya think?
Here’s how to make one for yourself…
Snag a groovy blanket & some coordinating trim
Chop the blanket in half & set one piece aside for now
Bind the raw edge of the remaining half with the fancy trim
Lay it on the floor, right side facing up & fold the bound edge down about 20cms (this will be the collar)
Snag a loose fitting jacket and centre it on the fabric
mark the shoulder & underarm of one sleeve with pins
Chop out a strip of fabric using the pins as a guide (this will be your armhole)
Fold the fabric exactly in half
& use the sliced strip as a template for cutting out the other sleeve opening
grab that set aside half of the fabric & cut it into 2 pieces with your desired sleeve length & width measurements
fold each sleeve piece in half with right sides facing
stitch the sides together
flip right side out & marvel at your lovely new sleeves!
Pop the sleeve tubes into the armholes with right sides facing & stitch them together
zig zag over the interior seams to prevent fraying (if desired)
Create a groovy belt out of the remaining scraps & enjoy your gorgeous new coat!
It can be worn with collar open…
or tucked in and cozy!
Transform your whole wardrobe with my groovy e-book collection too:
This is amazing… Any idea on what the dimensions of the blanket was? Trying to figure out how much fabric I would need to recreate this…
Cheers Talice. Any blanket (or piece of fabric) that is large enough to loosely wrap around your body will work. My vintage blanket was originally used for a decorative cover on a “day bed” in the 1950’s so was about the size of a single bedsheet, I did have quite a bit left over when I was finished 🙂
my shower curtain raincoat & cozy cocoon coat were created using similar methods but have groovily different results!
Um, that is fabulous!!!
Cheers! 😀
This is stunning! Fantastic Refashion!
Thanks Vanessa…I love creating something from scratch without a set pattern, it’s so much more interesting + if any mistakes are made I can simply come up with an imaginative fix instead of having to start over 😉
Awesome idea! I love it with the top tucked in! 🙂 Lisa
Yep…it’s a groovy versatile jacket that works dressed up or down too! 😀
Holy smokes that is AMAZING! I thought you’d inherited that coat at first – what an amazing job. So brave of you to cut into that fabric but it really paid off – I want one now! *puts amazing fabric on ‘to buy’ list.
Cheers my dear! It was surprisingly easy to create once I got over my fear of the first chop 😉 A bit of imagination & a pair of scissors go a loooong way in the wonderful world of refashioning! <3