the craftiest of crafternoons

I have been dreaming and dreaming some more about the Comme des Garçons blanket coats from the second I saw those bumpyheadedpinkladies come tromping down the runways.

COMME DES GARÇONS F/W 2009

LOOOOOK AT IT. What a glorious thing. DREAMMAKER & HEARTBREAKER, that's what you are Ms. Kawakubo.

Sigh.

Sorry, where was I? OH RIGHT. Welllllll....I figured I might DIE without one and since my CASH FLOW does not allow for such acquisitions, I decided to take matters into my own (well-intentioned but not very sew-savvy) hands.

When I finally made a thriting/funtimes Philly date with my girl Sunshine, who is WAY more talented than I, I emailed her a pic of the coat and was like..can we also make these? She was like, duh, sure, no PROBS. AND I WAS FILLED WITH JOY.

So..how do you make one? First you hafta get the goods. What you will need is: a coat you wanna hack into, a blanket, an iron, a sewing machine (it COULD be hand-stitched but you might cry), and some thread. A dress form was pretty helpful, mainly because we were making this up as we went along.
No dress form? Make your little sister stand there for you while you poke her full of pins.

Men's army trench: $5.95. Crazy wool blanket: $2.95. Both from the thrift earlier that day. Clown painting: optional.

Got it all? Start that shit already! Cut up that coat! Fold the raw edge, iron that shiz, sew it up.

Please note I refused to take off the new fur I had ALSO thrfited. It made me feel like Sharon Stone in Casino. I am nothing if not weird.

HI SUNSHINE, HI

So then you just...fiddle around with the blanket. We basically folded ours in 4 and cut the corner out (poncho ideas?). Then we sliced up the front and...pinned it and tried it on and til it looked right.

I decided I HAD to have pockets, because I always want pockets. So (with Sunshine's amazingly patient and helpful talk-through) I cut the pockets out of the trench, cut a slash in the blanket, and sewed them in! AMAZING.

HEY, I MADE THAT

And that is IT. Swear to Gagaloo, it was PRETTY EASY. The hardest/most annoying part (besides getting the drape right)? Sewing through a blanket. There is a LOT of FABRIC at times and it can make the machine a lil bit BITCHY. Other than that, it was pretty easypease. It took about..2 hours total, tops.


Would I have figured some sort of version of this out without Sunshine's help? Probably. Would it have looked nearly as good without Sunshine's help? ABSOLUTELY NOT. THANK YOU, SUNSHINE!!!

YAYAYAYAYYYYY...I AM GETTING SO DIY ADDICTED.

It's not perfect, it's not realdealholyfield, but I am pretty happy with it!

One thing I would've done differently: My coat was ginorm and so I had to move buttons around and do a lil sleeve doctoring to make it fit better. Sunshine used a perfectly fitted trench for hers and that was totally better.I love that we made the same thing but with 2 totally different results!

HOW CUTE IS THIS??

I am sure that Sunshine will post a much more comprehensive how-to on her blog if you need more specifics.

 

AND NOW I MATCH MY BATHROOM. DREAMS DO COME TRUE.

I am on such a DIYHIGH, guys! What project can I tackle next????