Ralph Gets a 2nd Chance

I love tailored jackets but when I can buy this creme raw silk designer model for 99 cents at the thrift store it hardly seems worth my time to labor over a jacket from scratch.

This is the "before" picture after being tossed in the washer with a capful of shampoo. Yes, I know the tag said "dry clean only" but I don't like the chemicals in that process so I stick to soap and water.

The buttons are nothing special but I left them on and well, it's lacking in details. The extra watch pocket doesn't really add much. In fact all the pockets were still sewed shut so I doubt the original owner wore it much.

This is a size 6 petite and while the sleeves are way too short, the jacket body is a normal length.

I needed to add 4" to the sleeves because DD has long arms like me. I'm always buying silly doilies. I don't know why exactly because I rarely use them but the crocheted squares seemed just right. They needed to be a litte wider so I blocked them with steam before whip stitching them together. For balance, I hand stitched one to each shoulder creating the appearance of a yoke. I wanted a really soft ribbon to weave through the top edge of the crochet and found this Moda Dea ribbon yarn to be nice match.

A little hand stitching with embroidery floss around the front edge and lapel pulls it all together.