Flower power makes berets work overtime.

I was in the thrift store a few weeks ago with some friends, and I was thinking how I would love to do as an experiment one of those refashionings. You know, making a woman's suit from a mans old suit. The bad news was that store didn't have any suits worth attempting the project. The good news was, I came across this jacket.

The thing didn't looked finished. There were still tailor's tacks across the shoulders, and other signs like that, but the fabric was a ribbed silk and so lovely. I put it back twice, because it was priced at $6, and at the time that was a bit steep for me. But then I bit the bullet and bought the jacket.

Taking it apart to utilize the most of the silk was a chore. But I did manage to salvage most of it just fine. I then laid out my generic beret pattern, and cutting lining with it, knocked that out.

I lined it with some dotted Swiss like cotton I had. I liked the contrast in colors.

The purse was a different story. At the last minute I decided to utilize the front pockets of the jacket, so I changed my initial purse design. The bottom is circular, with gathers at either side of the pocket to make it fit. ITs kind of like a bean bag, but it worked great.

I really wanted to do the grommet pull for the closure, like from my WWII sewing book (listed in my etsy store). Yes, that was my whole plan. See how sad I am?

As I was completing this, I thought, "Oh! I can use my flower pattern!" I blindly, without accounting the work, got it out and just went for it. It was a lot of work, but when I sewed them to this plain beret, I knew it was completely worth it. The look is grand, and with the vintage expo coming up in a couple of weeks ,I knew just where to wear this set.

So from mens jacket to purse and hat. Not a bad way to end, eh? Finished images can be seen on NVL.