The Garment Project after

I'm really excited to post the after pictures of the trench coat my lovely seamstress, Ann, restructured for me. Do you remember the before post?

The blazer is still a work in progress-see below.Here is the before photo of the trench coat (good God the hair!) I was super excited to take home the awesome results of the trench coat project. Too bad I have this awesome coat in the Manila heat. No problem, it will chill in my closet until we are in cooler temperatures.We had to sacrifice the long sleeves due to the way it was attached to the body of the jacket. It was unavoidable. I'm not that sad because the three quarter length sleeve still looks nice and the belted sleeve can be pushed up to accentuate the gather at the shoulder (which turned out heavenly, I might add). Plus a long sleeved blouse/sweater peaking out of the sleeve will look kind of cool and layered anyway. I forgot to photograph the back of the coat which has a great vent and pleat at the length of the coat. We kept all the traditional trench coat features and the original belts. I'm in love with how it turned out.

Still having a bit of trouble buttoning it on the opposite side since it's a men's coat. I finally figured it out.The labor for the restructure was about $60 (which includes whatever Ann's business gets off the top-not dirt cheap but eons cheaper than what it would have cost me in the States). That means for about $72.50 I have a cool custom made trench coat with a great story behind it. The story is the best part. I'd like to think that somewhere in Vancouver, WA the middle-aged man who used to wear this London Towne trench coat to work who's wife finally cleaned out their hall closet and threw it in the pile for the Salvation Army; would be happy to know that I'm getting some good use out of his old coat. It's way cuter now!*I'd like to add a little thank you note to my husband, who took the pictures of me as he laughed at how excited the new jacket made me. I know he couldn't care less about clothing or the thrill of finding an old garment for cheap and restructuring it; but he humored me for the photos and I might add that the first photo he took was the best after all. I kept pestering him to turn off the flash and stand here, No, stand there, now focus it on me...nag, nag, nag. In the end, his photo was the best. Sorry, honey...I love you.