Handmade Monday

I am a terrible magpie.  When I see something nice, I have to have it.  If it's something handmade, I have to have a go at making it, so when I saw this, I thought that that was something I would very much like to do.  A red coat is not very me, and I don't want to be too much of a social sheep, so I decided to make mine a different colour.

I found an old coat on ebay before Christmas and let it sit in the cupboard for a few weeks while I thought about colours.  I bought two packs of lovely purple Dylon dyes, and had a go on Saturday.

Apart from time, this was easy to do.  It takes a preliminary wash, then a 2 hour wash with the dye, then another 2 hour wash to get the excess dye out, then a short wash to clean out the machine.  It's come out very well, if I say so myself, and I'm very pleased with it.  I wore it to Nursery today, and it was gorgeous and warm.

I think the finishing touches won't be crocheted squares, although they look gorgeous, as everything Lucy touches does, but some lazy daisies on the pockets. 

Unfortunately, the washing did SOMETHING to the zip, so it didn't catch properly, and then didn't open properly, and I was stuck in it, looking after the children at Nursery.  I managed to fix the stupid thing, thanks to a pair of pliers and a bit of quiet swearing.  It really is a thing of beauty, and I'm very pleased with my first bash at upcycling - horrid word, but it describes this quite well.

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