score

It's very very rare that I buy clothing from the mall or store anymore. If I do get a shopping bug then I'm prone to thrift rather than anything else and lately the thrift store has been really picked over. Meh.... I was on my way home from the thrift store after finding nothing but a couple of belts (sigh) and spotted a consignment shop that I had long wanted to go into and never had. I thought the next best thing to the thrift was consignment and boy I was surprised at how much nicer it was than I had even thought. Consignment, of course, is carefully curated and so it was that I entered this pretty fabulous consignment shop not too far from where I live. I was amazed at what they had. Never had I seen such beautiful second hand offerings.

Then I spotted this jacket. Then I tried it on and it was then that I knew that someone would literally have to cut me out of the jacket in order to get me to give it up. This is a Rebecca Taylor jacket and seriously, the only thing I know about designer names is that I've seen Rebecca's name on a couple of Vogue patterns before. Ha. I've not been on the up and up with designer clothing for a long time. It's out of my financial reach, quite frankly. But sometimes, when chance comes along, its best to grab it up and roll yourself up in it and shout hip hip hooray.....

This jacket is, quite literally, perfect. It's loverly. And I wanted to show it all to you because I thought you might find it interesting from a sewing standpoint. The really unique thing about this jacket is that its 100% silk, through and through. To boot, its quilted. I don't know about you, but whenever I think of a quilted jacket, I think "quilty" and that involves something crazy like patchwork. And you know, for a jacket, I don't know that quilty is so great, or at least I never thought it could be so great or so incredibly sophisticated. So anyway, yeah, this jacket is quilted. Quilted silk. Crazy right?

The sleeves are lined in silk and at the sleeve vent (if you will) there is a zipper. Additionally, at the sleeve cap there is a curious addition which gives this jacket the half look of a moto jacket style. But then there's the peplum which gives it a crossover into riding jacket territory. Personally, I find it gorgeous and it doesn't help at all that its amazingly comfortable. The inside has some hong kong finished seams which only add to the overall beauty. Its seriously exquisite and quite candidly I find this amazing because what I had previous thought before was high end RTW (ready-to-wear) was really not what is high end RTW. I mean I've felt that I had some nice RTW items that did cost me quite a bit back in the day, but I've never come across a silk jacket. Especially one that was lined in silk too. Usually linings are polyester or acetate which is so awfully sad, but true.

I read an article in one of the more recent Threads mags that talked about picking the right fabric for the right pattern. The article was really well done and right at the beginning, the author stated something to the effect of "there really is not bad fabric, only inappropriate fabric choices for specific patterns." Though I do have to state that I think polyester double knit is a really bad fabric and I have yet to hear of or think of a good application for this fabric, I do think that statement holds true. But what about when you are completely surprised by the fabric choice of a particular garment? This jacket is one of those instances, and yet thoroughly well executed.

Anyway, spiffy right? What do you think? Have you ever thought that a jacket could be made of out quilted silk? It kind gives room to the imagination as regards sewing and creating your own silk jacket. I mean I never would have thunk, which is the whole reason why I wanted y'all to see it. You know, from sewer to sewer, just giving you ideas. Thoughts, anyone?