Friday, April 10, 2015

Easter ensemble 2015

 First let me say that I started this year's Easter outfit not as an Easter outfit just something for me to wear that was funky.  I found this black blazer/suit coat at one of my visits to the thrift store some months ago.  It was way to big, but ya know, when something is right you just know you can make it work. It is hard to see but it has rhinestones on the jacket lapels and on the sleeve cuffs. It is an awesome piece of clothing.
 Before I fitted the jacket, I tried to decide if I wanted to shorten the jacket or leave it the length it was.  I sought advice from my Partner In Crime, my children and my sisters and friends. I got various advice from them.  Of course that is what you get for asking other peoples opinions. 
 I happen to find this skirt at another visit to the thrift store.  Both the skirt and the jacket were hanging on my display rack together but not together and a light bulb went off in my head that these two pieces would make a great marriage.  Several of my opinion people mentioned that the skirt needed to be shortened, which I had not noticed. This top picture was suppose to show how the jacket was going to fit.
The skirt fit and shortening it was easy. The shortened skirt is in the above picture.  Fitting the jacket was another kettle of fish altogether.  I had to take the sleeves off along with the shoulder pads.  I took about 1 1/2" off the jacket shoulders.  Put the sleeves back in along with the shoulder pads.  I also had to take all the jacket bodice seams in and of course that meant doing the same (or mostly the same) to the lining. I ended up deciding to leave the jacket long, which is what most of my opinion people told me to do. 
 My Easter hat was my last year's Easter hat for those not reading my blog, it looked like this at the thrift store. I took all the decorations off and then added my own.
 I had planned to wear it as shown in the picture above as the real back of the hat became the front and actually did wear it like this to Easter Mass 2014, but found it was too heavy and needed to be worn as below with the original front as the front of my hat, which I originally designed to be the back. I know that is confusing.
So this was my final Easter outfit.  We were in Denver for Easter and this was perfect for our weather. The jacket doesn't fit quite as well as I would of liked. There were about ten hats at our Mass, but I can say with certainty that my hat was the most elaborate. You can see that this is quite a hat.  This hat is New York City Easter Parade ready, it is Kentucky Derby ready and English Royal Wedding ready. I certainly got a lot of second looks at Mass, but I also got compliments. 

6 comments:

  1. That looks like quite a conservative outfit for you UNTIL the HAT! That hat is completely over-the-top. You are RIGHT. It is ready for all the occasions you mentioned.
    We had 2" of snow yesterday = nice white over all the piles of black snow. I am ready for Florida. We are into the 6th month of snow. I am SICK of it. I sure appreciate your giving me a smile. You look FANTASTIC!

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  2. Oh, Maggie, what fun! As Annie said, the hat is really over the top. Your parishioners must look forward to your Easter outfit every year.

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  3. What fun!
    Okay, not English/(British!!!) Royal Wedding ready, but you would sure fit in well for Royal Ascot (remember My Fair Lady?) That is just 10-15 min down the road from me.

    Sandy in the UK

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  4. Maggie, I agree--that jacket is an awesome piece of clothing! You wear it well. And I wish you had an invitation to a royal event or Churchill Downs or some other auspicious place to wear your hat! Charming!

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  5. You made some finds. I think you'd have added the rhinestones if it had been plain to start with. The hat! Oh my word! What a glorious piece of work. You might think about doing a display of your hat collection somewhere. I'd come see it. I have a similar skirt and liked it both long and shortened. Taking the sleeves off!!! I would never have the courage.
    LeeAnna

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