Plans, plans, plans

I haven't done a lot of sewing recently.  The last month has been taken over by work mostly.  Now most of the fuss is finished with and I can get back to my regular hobbies.

I went to the thrift store today and found the nicest suit jacket.  It is a men's jacket in a dark tourquoise color and the best part is it is 100% silk. For $3.00!  Sweet. I want to fashion it into a ladies jacket. I have been thinking about refashioning thrift store garments for a while now and since the blouse turned out so nicely I have a bit more confidence.

Slowly I have been picking out the stitches on this rather hideous red dress from the 80's.  I bought it because I really loved the colour of the fabric.  It is a pretty cherry red which I am always in favor of.  Although it does not have a care label anymore I believe it is made of some sort of wool/acrylic mix.  It is a little on the itchy side.

But look at all that fabric.  There area few pin holes so I am going to have to be careful how I cut my pattern pieces from it to avoid these spots.  I am also going to have to line it otherwise the itchiness might make me crazy.  The dress looks very well loved.  The zipper and the elastic around the waist have both been replaced over the years.  I cant imagine wearing it as is though.

The plan is to turn the dress into something like this picture from the Modcloth website

I plan to make it a bit longer but I like the styling.  I am just a bit concerned about the lack of sleeves.  Most of my dresses are sleeveless and I have found the Prince Rupert gets pretty cold.  It is never really sun dress weather here so sleeveless is a little impractical.  I always end up covering up my cute dresses with cardigans to keep warm.
I also have plans to make a dress with long sleeves.  I don't think I have owned a dress with long sleeves since I was in elementary school.

I am tempted into making it into something more like this.  I like the darts used and I am hoping I can get it to fit like in the picture.  Sometimes the pictures on these old patterns are very inaccurate as to what the garment actually makes up into.  Many times I have looked at a reissued pattern and the drawing makes it look like something out of a movie, but once the garment is made up the average person (or the live model wearing the garment) it looks really crappy. (Pattern companies also seem to use some of the most ugly fabric to make up their patterns.  I mean, light pink satin?  Are you kidding? ).

Anyway, here is hoping that something good comes from all this.

Random Rupert

Did I mention it is snowing here? It has been snowing off and on for the last couple days and I think we have about 1 1/2 inches or so.  It is very pretty.  The snow has been up on the mountain for a while but it is only recently that it has gotten cold enough to come down to us.  I did not get a nice picture of the snow here, but here are a couple of the snow up on the mountains.

This is the mountain which is right in the middle of the island which Prince Rupert is on (Kaien Island).

I like the last of the sunrise in this one. I have no idea what mountain that is.