After this week, my first and most detailed upcycled piece has finally begun to take its final form. I took a break from working on the detailed embroidery and decided to spend the week working towards finalizing the design and shape of the garment as a whole. To do this, I focused on the buttons and neckline.
The buttons that were originally attached to the vest were plain, round plastic. In my opinion, the plastic clashed with the natural raw silk material of the vest, so I knew that, as much as I want to keep as much of the original materials on the garment as possible, they needed to be changed. A personal favorite button style of mine is the antique wooden toggle look. Aged wooden toggles are unique enough to be noticeable, but also quite easy to source secondhand. After only a little bit of looking, I found a set of 6 wooden toggles on ebay for $3 including shipping, so I jumped on them. The buttons were easy enough to replace, and the corset synching makes the fabric tug on the toggles just enough to make them stand out. The weathering on the wood also gives them some brown tones that compliment the fabric perfectly.
I purposefully only attached three of the five buttons that were originally on the vest because I knew that I was planning to drop the neckline quite a bit. I originally intended to cut the extra fabric off, but as I was folding it back, I realized that I could train the edges to create an elegant edging that I would just have to sew down. I’m really thrilled that I have been able to use all of the fabric that I’ve changed around so far, and think the shape has come out to be much more flattering than the original piece was .
After I finish the embroidery and the neckline, I think I will be satisfied with the finished piece. I was intending to attach lace to the bottom of the vest, but now that I have a better idea of what the final piece will look like, I think the lace could potentially detract from the character of the different textures that are already present.
This piece is taking on the inspiration of an Edwardian walking suit with the tweed and sharp angles, so I think I am going to run with that inspiration as I continue to consider designs for my next pieces. I am still weighing my options about whether I’d like to complete the ‘look’ with a dress or a tunic and pants that I convert to bloomer-esque trousers, so that is going to be something that I continue to mull over in my design process next week – at the end of the day, I think it is going to come down to what I can find affordably and secondhand.