Ethical fashion code: for trends, shop second hand and upcycle. Here three garments become one and I have a bomber jacket .. one of this spring’s trends.

It wasn’t all plain sailing though, in truth, this one was a bit of a nightmare and left even me wondering whether I should jump on the bus to the high street!

Getting the armholes even was the first challenge. It was very oversized and I guess as a sleeveless jacket the shoulders looked more exaggerated than they had when they had sleeves. Then I got caught out by the lining .. when a garment is made from scratch there is a particular way it needs to go together so that the finishings are hidden and edges enclosed … circumventing this and working backwards as you have to do with upcycling is sometimes a bit tricky. Then, just when I thought I was on the home straight! Doh! I thought I was being clever using raw edged denim, no need to finish the edge and picking up on a Spring trend. But oh no, I realised I had not considered the edge of the wadding and the jacket .. oops, I didn’t see any of that on the catwalk! Learnt a few things about zips too (it doesn’t actually fasten)!

All in all, many lessons learned and with the help of YouTube tutorials, we got there and I’ve worn it twice this week. Had a few nice comments from friends which always makes it feel worth the effort. It’s not perfect but one day I’ll have another go and make another one. As far as upcycling goes, I’m chuffed with the fact that I managed to use the welt and collar from an unwanted jumper and the denim from an unwanted pair of jeans … TOTAL UPCYCLE!

A bit of a side comment … go careful when you hear the word “vintage”. I bought the jacket from a well known second hand market place online, advertised as vintage, worn by a very cool looking model with a price tag to match. Actually, I don’t think it is vintage at all but I probably paid three times what I would have done if it had just been labelled second hand … another lesson learned … my brain is hurting now!