Frugal Friday - Applique and Giveaway Results!

During a thrifting expedition last spring I found the perfect fall/winter coat. You see my previous jacket had seen better days. That garment had been purchased on sale for thirty dollars and lasted about six years. So five dollars a year to stay warm -- not a bad deal. Yet I was still hoping to pay less for my next purchase.

Then I found it. The clouds parted overhead, a chorus of cherubs sang aaaaaAAAAA and a single beam of light shone down upon it; a brand new LL Bean coat in the perfect shade of green. Brand new! Lime green! My size! And a mere twelve dollars to boot. Life was splendid. Feeling chosen and loved by the universe I brought the coat home and modeled it for my family. I was thrifty! I was fashionable (I know - a stretch but go with me here)! Life was good!

The next day middle daughter borrowed the jacket without asking. What happened after that will remain a family mystery but between my daughter and my son they managed to mangle the coat with a scooter. The fabric was torn and appeared beyond repair. I was no longer chosen. I became the child who lost her balloon at the fair. It was floating floating floating away and completely out of reach. My coat! You see this jacket was more valuable because it was thrifted. I couldn't simply go out and replace it. And now it had been maimed.

I did try to repair it. My sewing merely caused a hideous pucker in the back. I wiped a single tear from my cheek and pulled myself up by the bootstraps. After all it was just a jacket. Just a material possession. No love lost. Not really. I hung it in the back of the closet and got on with my life.

Then this fall I discovered applique. Where have I been?!! While making a designs for t-shirts I came up with an idea. A wonderful awful idea. I could applique the back of the jacket. That is just what I did. And you know what? It worked.


Now I have a perfect coat like no other and my children get to live another day.

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The applique fabric has had quite a life. It used to be a thrifted curtain. That curtain lives on as a book bag, an i spy bag, a t-shirt design and now as a jacket.

My frugal tips for the day? Use what you have and learn to applique!

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And now to the giveaway! The winner, by random number generator, is Erin!

Erin - send your shipping info to Shalet@mac.com and I'll get your book and apron in the mail asap.

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Happy Frugal Friday all!