Coat Rehab

I have had this navy coat forever and have kept it around because I have a sentimental attachment to it. But do you notice the ridiculous velcro blocks instead of buttons? I have not worn the coat for several years for this reason. Recently I came across the coat in my closet and had an idea. I thought if I could rip off the velcro I would then be able to put buttons in their place. I could resurrect it just in time to wear it this spring. I searched on-line and in fabric stores and just could not find the buttons I had envisioned. I was looking for something that would be able to complement the yellow piping in the pockets. I finally decided I could only find what I wanted if I made them myself.  I used these to make my own fabric buttons. For the fabric I used scraps I pulled from my stash, since I would not need that much material. I followed the simple instructions included in the kit, and in about 5 minutes, with no sewing involved, the buttons came out just like I wanted.

Next step was making the button holes. The buttons, at 1 1/2" were larger than the button hole foot on my sewing machine. Not to be deterred, I thought if I could some how piece two button holes together I would have a large enough opening. The first attempt at my "solution" did not show much promise.

But, having just bought myself a titanium seam ripper, I was prepared to painstakingly rip the whole thing out and start again. The second time went much better and  produced what I had envisioned in my mind.

I repeated the "double" button holes four times, being careful that the two holes slightly overlapped. I did this so that when I opened up the button hole I could rip through the seam in the middle and maintain the integrity of entire button hole. After sewing on the buttons.. MAGIC... I have a brand new coat

with, if I must say, some really cool buttons