I came home and tried it on. And oh, this coat no longer pleases me. The color is still good, but it is so very very very boring. No bell sleeves, or puff sleeves, or any other kind of interesting sleeves. And while it's more fitted than my last coat (which is good, since Kevin said that one made me look like a hobbit), it doesn't flare out as delightfully as many other coats this season. Boring, right?
So I'm left with two options:
a) return it and try to find a prettier coat, maybe at Nordstrom or some such (I checked Anthropologie, but no dice; either out of my price range or out of my size)
b) try to improve the coat
And this is where I get a bit terrified. Because while yes, I took an embroidery class this past weekend, and it seemed fairly straightforward, and I can totally imagine adding some interest to this coat with embroidery, as so many gorgeous coats seem to have (if this Kashmir coat were more fitted, I'd be pretty tempted by it) -- I'm also afraid that a) you can't add embroidery at this late stage in the coat-making process (all the seams will show on the inside, after all, unless you take out the lining first, which I don't think I'm competent to do neatly), and b) even if you can, if I attempt it, I will ruin an expensive item of clothing with my ham-handed efforts.
Serious advice needed here. Is wool coat embroidery strictly a for-experienced-players-only sort of project? (If you think I can do it, where would be best? Along the center line on either side? Along the base? Somewhere else?)
Or if I should abandon the attempt, should I keep this coat, or is it really too boring to live? (Jed commented that it looked very professional. I have NO NEED to look professional in this coat. I want beautiful, lush, lovely, dammit.) Does it make me look like a constipated chipmunk? Advice, please!!!
I vote for return. The cut isn’t flattering and embroidery wouldn’t improve that aspect of it.
I’ve had surprisingly good coats from H&M, believe it or not.
Return. Although I have a new coat I was somewhat ambivalent about from Target, I dressed it up with a scarf and hat and got tons of compliments.
The problem with coats and being short and curvy is that any bulk is going to make us look bulkier, and most places don’t make petite coats…
Thanks for the comments so far; I think I’m figuring out some more of what I want in a coat.
– I do like it being a solid color; better for accessorizing fun with scarves and such
– I’d be okay with a brighter color, but am also fine with a dark color, since am planning on making gloves and scarf and hat, which can brighten it up as needed. Not interested in black, grey, white, or light cream.
– I think my big mistake was not having a v-neck and a more tailored shape (it’s tailored a bit, but hard to see in the photo, and could be more so) — I think that’d help a lot with the chest issues.
Maybe something like this in black orchid (love the sleeves…
Or this coat in chocolate?
I think the main take-away I’m getting though, is that I want a coat that works well without embroidery — if I then decide to add try adding a bit of embroidery, bonus.
Writing from DarkoverCon. Wishing you were here.
I like the coat you got, a lot. It just needs a contrasting scarf to accessorize it. And, you have been making scarves lately, if I recall correctly.
Fwiw, imo the coat looks better (and the cut is more flattering) in person than in this photo I took.
I think this could work on you. V-shaped neckline that you can tuck a scarf into, empire waist and, most importantly, the color coordinates with your website. 🙂
Oh, nice! I ordered the Nordstrom coats (free shipping, and I can return them at the store if neither works), and will see those in a week, but I’ll definitely keep this option in mind.