Wednesday 23 January 2008

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.

5 comments:

MildlyCrafty said...

That jacket is fantastically awful! Great find.

Drewzel said...

Yep, I'm thinking we should run a contest for "ugliest op-shop find of the year"... so far I'm out in front!

Bronwyn said...

Oh, yes, I was scared too - thanks to people like you, such horrors can be taken out of society, rehabilitated and released as decent, self-respecting citizens of craft! I am enjoying reading your blog - there needs to be more pride in Op-shopping but I do agree about the smell - can be off-putting to say the least.

spices for violet said...

I have a sneaking suspicion that my stepmother might do this when she's old and a bit batty. She likes to craft & over-embellish clothing, AND she had a thing for parasilk tracksuits in the early 90s (**shudder** - I had one, homemade by her, I loved it but the photos are incriminatory these days)
PS I have grown to like the op-shop smell, after a wash it mostly goes but the lingering scent of eau de oppe shoppe is somewhat comforting.

Drewzel said...

Ah, I'd forgotten about the parachute silk track suits! In hindsight, I probably should have donated the jacket to the 'Kath and Kim' wardrobe department, but I was too selfish.

I have no problem with the "op-shop smell" on the stuff when I get it home, but I tend to get overwhelmed while I'm in there, and feel like I can't breathe. But I'm a freak.