Coat or jacket?

 This is a lovely coat. Red, buttons up all the way, sort of a classic design. Could my dislike of this coat simply be that I've had it for too long? Almost 10 years to be exact.
Or, is the coat is in fact way too long and hopelessly boring?

It reaches to mid-ankle, something that makes it cumbersome to walk in. There is simply too much fabric to deal with. And come to think of it, the coat has clearly not been design with a specific season in mind. I can't wear a sweater under it, so it's not a good winter coat. On the other hand, the lining is really thick, so it's obviously not a spring coat either.

What to do? Change it of course. In this case, from coat to jacket.

I cut off the collar, the skirt part and got rid of the belt. Then I sewed on a green edge on the neck, but what next? I didn't want an 80's cropped jacked, but wasn't sure how to precede, or with what. I needed a vision.....Of course! I had to transform this outdated coat to the fabulous plaid jacket I had seen in a thrift shop in Ashland Oregon. Last week I cut off a velvet/plaid skirt, so I had all this left over fabric. I love it when it all comes together. 

Now my jacket looked like this:

As you can see it's still some hours away from being done but at least I knew what I was doing. 

One skirt fitting, new buttons, some hand stitching, and a bow later, it looked like this:

The bow in the back was originally a 60's hair-clip, but I thought it would look better on this jacket than in my hair. 

Now I know what to wear when I take the train to Glasgow in a few weeks.

Plaid and shortbread, here I come!