Jackets

I have a bit of a thing for coats and jackets. It isn't quite of a par with my thing for bags but it is getting there. Fortunately I seem to have the happy knack of finding coats or jackets in op shops or if I do buy one they are usually a bargin.

I have two recent jackets acquisitions to show you today. The first was bought on a recent op shop trip for the princely sum of $8. It is a grey wool jacket, looks like it has never been worn, and fits almost perfectly.

One of my favourite things about this jacket are the lables sewn inside:

It would seem that this jacket was hand tailored by Sam, who serves Her Majesty, in Hong Kong for Mrs Hannon, who may have been serving in the forces??

I'd love to know more about this?? It sounds like such an interesting story. If anyone can shed any light on this please let me know. I'd also love to know what the number after Mrs Hannon's name is (AH35079), any ideas??

There is also the mystery of how this jacket ended up in an op shop in Sydney. Altogether intriguing!!!

This jacket fits me almost perfectly. I think Mrs Hannon and I must have been nearly the same size. It is just a little big in the body, very slightly long and the sleeves are just slightly short, depending on what I am wearing under it. This is quite a contrast to normal, I'm rather short so sleeves are usually way to long on me and have to be rolled up or something similar. I haven't had the chance to wear this yet but I really looking forward to doing so, it is certainly lovely and warm, perfect for the current weather Sydney is experiencing, and I imagine it would be quite fun to share the story of the jacket with anyone who comments on it!!!

This second jacket was also bought at an op shop. I bought this one about 2 years ago and I think I paid $4. When it arrived in my wardrobe it was beige. I don't know why I thought that beige would suit me - it never has - but I wore it for about 18 months before remembering this!!! It is a cotton jacket so perfect for Autumn and Spring. I discovered Wardrobe Refashion about the time that I decided that this jacket could no longer be worn and should be sent back to the op shop. With some inspiration from Wardrobe Refashion I decided instead to dye it. I got some dye on sale, removed all the beige buttons and dyed it. It didn't turn out quite how I was hoping but I still like the colour, the stitching didn't take the colour, but I quite like that too. It took me quite some time to hunt down appropriate buttons. I had a few red ones in the right colour in my button stash, but not enough. I hunted many shops for the appropriate colour red buttons but couldn't find them, I finally decided that metal buttons would look alright, it still took awhile to find the right ones (I ultimately got these at Tessuti Chatswood). After sewing all the buttons on, removing several loose threads and doing a couple of other small fixes here is the result.

I'm rather pleased with the final outcome. A fairly simple refashion - hardly counts as one, but I will certainly get more a lot more use out of it now.

Comments

[linda]

hi there,
I am a big fan of dyeing things too, did you know that light coloured plastic or resin buttons will take the dye too? I had a recent sucess with a country road cream plastic necklace that is now a lovely purple colour. I threw it in when I was dyeing a shirt.

regards,
linda

[Jo]

Hi Linda,
That is really interesting. This is one of the things that I really enjoy about the blogging community - the willingness to encourage others and to share information. I had no idea you could get buttons/beads to take dye. I will definitely have to try that. I have a whole stack of ugly white plastics beads that would be prime candidates, next time I'm dyeing something I will see what I can do with them.
Thanks for sharing.

[Irene Wong]

If you go to Google maps yo can get a street view of 92 Nathan Road. The tailor is still there.

This is right in the tourist area. It will either be an Indian or a tailor of Shanghainese background.

[Jo]

Wow Irene. What great detective work. That is really interesting. When I next have Google maps open I will make sure I go and check it out.

[Irene]

In the Sun Herald travel supplement on May 30 2010 which I've just caught up reading, there was a one page article about shopping in HK.

It says: "Sam's Tailor is HK's most famous men's tailor (Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui)"

I suspect the number is the number they have allocated to that customer and that you would quote if you wanted to order another like item.

Of course there havn't been any British troops in HK for about 13 years now!

[Jo]

Irene, you are an absolute font of knowlege!!! This is all really interesting, thanks for passing the info on.