Studio / Vintage Floral Chore Coat
Vintage Floral Chore Coat
When I was in college, I found a curtain in a thrift store that had the most spectacular 70’s floral print. It hung in my bedroom for many years, eventually finding its way deep into the linen closet. I unearthed it in 2019 and decided that it needed to be a jacket, specifically a workwear inspired chore coat. Using a pattern based on a similar vintage jacket, I set about sewing the vintage fabric into a one of a kind jacket.
I added hand cut wooden buttons from my pruned maple trees, finished with beeswax from my own hive.
Hand cut wood buttons being rubbed with homemade beeswax wood conditioner
Final button, sewn on using waxed embroidery floss.
Wearing the jacket in the NYC subway, paired with other handmade items.
Jacket construction in progress
Print Reconstruction
After completing the jacket and wearing it fairly regularly, the aged textile started showing signs of deterioration. Fearing the loss of this beloved item, I set upon the task of recreating the print. I scanned the limited un-interrupted portions of the print on the jacket, then reconstructed a seamless repeat print in Illustrator, in some cases creating new motif elements to fill in blank spots in the repeat.
The original jacket back scan, turned into a vector.
The finished repeat
The finished jacket with the test swatch of the reconstructed print