When good crafting goes bad...

Hi all, it's me of the arse issues again. Yesterday I was all souped up on op-shop finds, so I stopped at the Carrum Downs Salvos after work. The only notable thing about the store really is that it's one of the few op-shops I've been in that smells good. Overall the stock was unimpressive, but once again, I really wasn't looking for clothes.

However, clothing was looking for me, and as I walked past the end of the row of ladies jackets, this little beauty jumped out at me:

You know that thing in cartoons where the character's eyes widen, pop outta their sockets on stalks and then wrap around each other a few times before reversing the whole process... well, my eyes did that. OMG! The humanity!

The back view didn't improve matters:


My first thought was, to quote Wayne: "It will be mine. Oh yes. It will be mine." When I took it to the counter, the assistant looked at me quizically, and I couldn't stop myself from trying to explain, saying "I plan to deconstruct it." This just caused her to furrow her brow and continue to look puzzled. So scary jacket and I headed home, my head filled with visions of a previous owner taking it on the Seniors bus trips, perhaps wearing it to the Bingo, and on Bowls presentation night. And then I tried to imagine the various embroiderers and how they'd react if they saw the current resting place of their handiwork. The oldest piece attached was labelled in satin stitch "duster tidy" and must have been from the 1930's (or older). They silently screamed at me all the way home, so as soon as I got through the front door, I had to show my husband the horror and immediately set to removing them from their jacket hell and letting them be free again.

Thanks to a nice husband that cooks dinner, three and a half hours on the couch later, I had unpicked 11 doileys, and then decided I'd had enough for the night. They were lined up on the back of the couch, and I nicknamed them "The Liberated Doiley Front"... here's a crappy-taken-with-the-flash picture:

Only one of them had been wrecked by being cut up for the "achy breaky" style shoulder and back upper panels.

As I write, they're all taking a nice bath in some Velvet soap-y water. I plan to add the prettiest ones to my collection, and inspired by Amelia's post, add the others to my Doiley Quilt Project.

Remember, friends don't let friends make and wear stuff like this (even in 1985!)

Disclaimer: My apologies if I've offended you greatly because you own, wore or made one like this anytime, anywhere, anyhow. Sorry.