Winter Coat Rescue

I had the pleasure of restoring a coat for Ms. Riley Do Right.  The silk lining was desperately in need of repair.  Luckily there was enough lining and underlining left to make a pattern.  [Pro Tip:“  Don’t throw away a shredded lining. Having a replacement made will be much cheaper if you have something, even shreds of something to make a pattern from.]

This restoration project was rather time consuming because the lining had to be hand stitched to the jacket (From start to finish, the project took 5 hours).  I didn’t want to chance ruining the velvet.  Other than the lining this jacket was in near mint condition.

One of the most interesting parts of the jacket was the inside pocket.  My friend Krista coined the term pocketry (best if pronounced in a British accent) when we worked together. I will define it as the craftsmanship involved involved in the construction and installation of pockets. I’ve never seen a pocket that was shaped like this before.  I had come across the featherstitch-like hand work in other garments from that era.

Check out flickr for the rest of the photos from the reconstruction.